Barnet manager Paul Fairclough will usually do his utmost to protect his young charges from any verbal abuse from fans.

Not on Saturday.

After watching them meekly surrender to a side who had previously also been shipping in goals for fun, Fairclough denied every one of his players the sanctuary of the dressing room at the final whistle, making them stand on the pitch until the travelling faithful had finished venting their anger.

It would not have done much for the confidence of his young squad, but, judging by this performance, that is something already in very short supply.

Besides, the players could not have heard anything they did not expect to hear. They were quite simply awful, and Fairclough said the fans were entitled to rip into them. And they did.

He said: “Their (the players) application was totally unacceptable. I insisted they went over to the supporters, myself included, and took everything they heard. The fans did my job for me.

“The supporters’ frustrations and anger epitomised what I was feeling as well. It was a very poor performance.”

The Chester fans, stunned by their own team’s change in fortune, added to the humiliation as they left the ground, mocking the solemn Bees, heads bowed.

Fairclough said: “I was shellshocked really. We worked so hard in training, but when we got on to the pitch, it just didn’t happen for us. I’ve no complaints about the final result.”

That is hardly surprising either. Five goals for Chester did not do them justice. City could have reached double figures. Barnet’s man of the match was keeper Lee Harrison who pulled off some excellent stops.

Once again, the Barnet defending left a lot to be desired.

Fairclough said that Chester’s second goal was down to defending that you were more likely to see from a pub team.

“To see it in a Division Two match was shocking,” he said.

The Bees have not had such a poor start to a season for a very long time. It is not just the results that have given cause for concern, but the manner in which they have lost all five games to date, four in the league.

With the exception of just one 45 minutes (against Brentford last week), they have been totally outfought.

Chester were the hungrier and won almost every ball. The Barnet heads dropped far too quickly and no player looked like they wanted to take responsibility. It looked like each individual was content to leave it to someone else. There was no team spirit, a criticism you rarely have to attach to a Barnet side.

The only highlight was a stoppage-time Cliff Akurang strike. He turned the ball home in off the post for his first goal of the season.

However, the ball almost rolled in apologetically. The Bees did not deserve even a consolation.

The only surprise was that it took Chester 32 minutes to break the deadlock, Kevin Ellison placing a fine 25-yard effort beyond the outstretched hand of the diving Harrison.

But any hopes of a comeback after the break were quickly dashed by three goals in the space of eight minutes.

Michael Leary was caught in possession for the first, Ryan Lowe eventually applying the finish. Poor marking allowed the incoming Paul Linwood to turn home a free-kick for the next, before Kevin Roberts stabbed the ball home from close range, after his initial header from a corner was blocked.

The final Chester goal came 11 minutes from time, Lowe beating the offside trap and slotting under Harrison.

BARNET (4-4-2): Harrison; Devera, De Magalhaes, Leary, Thomas; Adomah, Mitchell (Porter 72), Bishop, Hart (Akurang 65); Birchall, Medley (Tabiri 72). Subs not used: Kadoch, Charles.