Three goals in eight second-half minutes saw Barnet move into the quarter-finals of the FA Trophy at the expense of National League leaders Barrow.

Cheye Alexander, Simeon Akinola and Josh Walker scored in the 61st, 63rd and 69th minutes respectively to secure a comfortable win for the Bees.

New signing Xander McBurnie came into the side for the cup-tied Paul McCallum, while there was also a return to the bench for Ricardo Santos.

Neither side took a firm grasp of the game in the opening 10 minutes, with the closest effort being McBurnie’s effort when he got on the end of a cross from Akinola.

Barrow, the current runaway leaders in the National League, began to settle into the game and were only denied the advantage when Scott Loach saved brilliantly from Oliver Dyson.

The Bees started quickest in the second half and a defensive error from the visitors almost allowed Akinola in to break the deadlock.

Shortly after, though, the game’s opening goal did arrive when Alexander found himself high up the pitch, evaded a tackle and then slotted past Luke Simpson.

Straight from the kick-off, Barnet regained possession and looked to attack again, and they were rewarded with a second goal as Akinola made space for himself in the box before stabbing home his 16th goal of the season in all competitions.

Any chance of a Barrow fightback was completely killed off six minutes later when Walker easily broke into the penalty area and slotted beyond the helpless goalkeeper to but Barnet out of sight.

A further positive came for the hosts when Santos made his long-awaited return from injury as a late substitute, and he helped the Bees see out the remaining minutes and secure their place in the quarter-final.

Barnet will discover their opponents for the last eight in today’s draw at 1pm, while they return to National League duty tomorrow night away at Solihull Moors.