Maidstone suffered a fourth successive National League defeat when they lost at Barnet.

Both sides went into the game in poor form, winless in five, but it was the hosts’ night.

Jack Barham cancelled out Rob Hall’s opener as the teams went in level at half-time.

Dale Gorham and Ben Wynter gave the Bees a 3-1 lead and while Regan Booty replied, Nicke Kabamba gave the Bees breathing space in added time.

An own goal with seconds remaining gave Maidstone a glimmer of hope but they wound up empty-handed.

Maidstone switched to a back three for the first time this season in a bid to change their fortunes.

Designed to shore up a leaky defence, the move also allowed Hakan Hayrettin to get two men up front.

The Stones barely had time to find their feet before falling behind to a lousy opener in just the third minute.

Having seen Boreham Wood score direct from a cross on Saturday, the same thing happened again, albeit from a different angle, with Hall’s ball in appearing to evade everyone on its way in.

The benefit of having two up showed when Maidstone levelled in the 11th minute after James Alabi ran on to Sam Corne’s long ball and forced his way into the box.

Keeper Laurie Walker came out to block, the Barnet defence made a mess of clearing the loose ball and Barham pounced.

Maidstone’s approach was pretty simple - win the ball and get it forward as quickly as possible to Barham and Alabi.

It was no bad plan against a Bees side with a makeshift defence, including ex-Stones midfielder Michael Phillips filling in at centre-half, and it certainly had the potential to cause problems.

The Bees were pretty direct themselves but ran into an inspired Joe Ellul in the first half.

He’d been a doubt to play after going off injured at Boreham Wood with a suspected fractured cheekbone.

Binning his protective mask after only five minutes, he was a colossus at the back, winning headers, cutting out crosses, blocking shots and making a series of superbly-timed challenges, including two in a matter of seconds to thwart Ben Wynter and then Kabamba in the box.

Barnet regained the lead in the 51st minute, skipper Gorman’s free-kick from the edge of the box finding the bottom corner.

The Stones reverted to a back four when Christie Pattisson replaced Jack Cawley before the hour mark..

They twice went close to levelling in the space of a few seconds, with Barham’s strike from a Pattisson cross blocked on the line and Booty’s header hitting the post.

It was soon Barnet’s turn to strike the woodwork, Harry Pritchard’s effort hitting the inside of the post and bouncing down on the line.

They didn’t have long to wait for a third goal, though, extending their lead when Wynter drove the ball into the bottom corner in the 71st minute.

That wasn’t the end of the story, however, with Booty rifling home Maidstone’s second within two minutes.

Barnet scored again in the first minute of added time when Kabamba went through on goal and beat Hadler.

Maidstone had their third in the 95th minute, courtesy of a scruffy own goal following a corner.

Barnet: Walker, Okimo, Hall, Gorman, Kabamba (Woods 90+3mins), Kanu (Flanagan 82mins), Pritchard, Wynter, Diarra, De Havilland (Shields 84mins), Phillips. Subs not used: Azaze, Smith.

Maidstone: Hadler, Fowler, Ellul, Cawley (Pattisson 59mins), Hoyte, Corne, Barkers (Fawole 77mins), Booty, Galvin, Barham (Ghandour 85mins), Alabi. Subs not used: Mersin, Odusanya.

Referee: Greg Rollason.

Attendance: 1,173.