IT IS back to the drawing board for Barnet.

The Bees missed the chance to climb out of the League Two relegation zone with a 2-1 defeat at home to Gillingham on Tuesday night.

Having seen off Northampton Town so impressively just a few days earlier - Barnet triumphing 4-1 at Underhill - Mark Stimson's men could not repeat the feat against the Gills.

And now they have more than a week to think about what might have been, as the Bees are not now in action until they make the trip to Oxford United on December 4.

Tuesday's match brought ex-Bees Andy Hessenthaler and Ian Hendon back to Underhill, as the duo are now boss and assistant respectively at Gillingham.

Stimson was boss of the Gills before getting the Barnet manager's post.

Gillingham never won an away game while Stimson was in charge last season and, until last Saturday, had not done so this campaign either.

But, like buses, two have come along for Hessenthaler this week, his side having won at Oxford on Saturday.

On Tuesday, Barnet could not scale the same heights they reached against Northampton, even though Kevin Gallen gave them a first-half lead, the on-loan striker scoring after the half-hour following good work by Mark Marshall. It was Gallen's first goal for the club.

But Gillingham had shown enough in the first half to suggest they could get back into the game and they struck twice in five second-half minutes.

Chris Whelpdale hit the first on the hour, before Charlie Lee wrapped it up.

It was all a far cry from Saturday, when goals from Steve Kabba (2), Grant Basey and Ricky Holmes had swept aside Northampton.