Dover goalkeeper Mitch Walker is yet to keep a clean sheet in this season’s Vanarama Conference after Barnet put three past him at Crabble on Wednesday night.

The visitors returned to top spot on the table after beating Chris Kinnear’s side 3-0, a fifth defeat in eight games for Whites.

It could have been a different story for Dover had striker Stefan Payne taken his 13th-minute chance when the score was still 0-0.

But Payne’s shot was well-saved by Barnet goalkeeper Graham Stack, showing why he was the Conference player of the month for August.

Four minutes after Payne was denied, Spaniard Luisma Villa headed Elliot Johnson’s cross beyond the despairing dive of Walker to put the visitors ahead.

Walker then kept Dover from going further behind after saving Villa’s volley and winning a one-on-one against striker Charlie MacDonald.

MacDonald limped off not long after but his replacement, Luke Gambin, didn’t take long to settle.

He scored with his first touch after he got on the end of Lee Cook’s cross a minute before half-time.

Jake Reid, who scored twice in Dover’s 4-1 win at AFC Telford on Saturday, replaced fellow striker Nathan Elder during the break, but it was that man Gambin who again made an impact.

He beat Walker from 12 yards out in the 60th minute after another Johnson cross eluded the Dover defence.

Dover did go close to reducing the deficit in injury-time through substitutes Ricky Miller and Christian Nanetti.

Luton Town loanee Miller beat Stack with a free-kick but the effort crashed into the crossbar, before Nanetti’s shot also hit the woodwork moments later.

The defeat saw Dover slip to 19th, one point above the relegation zone.

Whites host eighth-placed Macclesfield on Saturday.

Dover: Walker, Essam, Sterling, Lock, Bonner, Orlu (Miller 58mins), Deverdics, Taiwo, Stone, Elder (Reid 46mins), Payne (Nanetti 66mins). Subs not used: Kinnear, Raggett.

Attendance: 1,023.