Just 24 hours after passing his driving test Mauro Vilhete drove Barnet into the Football League once, scoring twice as the Bees defeated Gateshead to win the Conference.

Bristol Rovers had beaten Alfreton Town 7-0 but it mattered not a jot as Barnet had known all week a victory against the Heed would secure promotion regardless of what the second-placed Gas did.

It was Vilhete, the Bees’ longest-serving player having made his debut against Grimsby Town in 2010, who got the ball rolling by heading home Sam Togwell’s free-kick after 26 minutes.

And posting on his Instagram page, the utility man revealed not only had the goal had very much come straight off the training ground, he had passed his driving test the day before.

He said: “We have been working on our set pieces. We knew they would focus on the big men so me and (Andy) Yiadom would be free. I had a vision of where the ball was going so I went there and luckily tucked it away.”

Having scored just three all season the Lisbon-born wideman doubled his tally for the afternoon shortly after the restart when he tucked home from another Togwell delivery – this time a corner – after Michael Gash’s flick-on landed at his feet.

“I should have got a few more but I’m glad I managed to get another two,” said the 21-year-old.

“I told Togs (Sam Togwell) at half time ‘they are not marking me or Yids (Andy Yiadom),’ so what he needed to do was deliver them as early as possible and he has gone and delivered it as soon as he got there. I told him it would happen and it did.”

It was Vilhete’s 99th appearance in a Barnet shirt and by far the most memorable for a player who attended Ravenscroft School in the shadow of Underhill.

The former Boreham Wood and Hendon loanee finished by praising the supporters who packed out The Hive in its first sell-out: “The fans today were immense, as they have been for the whole season, so this one is for the fans.”