Shrimp net filled in final half-hour

The scoreline however, is misleading - the home side struggled to make an impact for much of the match.

The game was starting to bear all the hallmarks of a nil-nil drawn before the visitors broke to grab a 59th-minute goal courtesy of Terry McFlynn.

A close-fought first half saw Barnet with the lion's share of possession, but unable to break down a resolute Morecambe defence and when Kieron Walmsley got a second yellow card on 28 minutes for bringing down lively Bees winger Richard Graham, the home side seemed unable to make use of their numerical advantage.

In fact, Morecambe were the livelier team following the break. They looked threatening on the counter attack and minutes after Gary Hunter had shot wide from Michael Twiss's through ball, McFlynn skipped through a sunbathing Barnet defence to give his side the lead.

But Paul Fairclough's side have an air of confidence about them these days and they responded almost immediately, defender Simon King curling in his first goal for the club 90 seconds later.

This was followed by a trio of strikes that blew Morecambe out of the water and left their manager fuming.

A succession of sweeping Barnet moves - Graham causing increasing trouble down the left flank - led to Conference top scorer Giuliano Grazioli winning a controversial penalty after being brought down by the visiting keeper Adam Sollitt. Veteran defender Ian Hendon made no mistake from the spot.

Within five minutes, Grazioli had poached his fifth and sixth of the season after battling play by lanky forward Liam Hatch.

Morecambe didn't have a reply and it was left to Bees substitute Nick Bailey to make the scoreline even more flattering in stoppage time.

While Fairclough was thankful for the refereeing decisions that allowed his side to retain top spot, Harvey was furious after the match.

"It was the worst refereeing performance I've seen in 10 years," he complained, but his side, currently languishing fifth-from-bottom, will have to do much more up front if they are to make any impact this season.