Martin Allen was delighted with his side as they returned to the top of the Vanarama Conference table on Saturday with a 2-0 win over Southport at the Merseyrail Community Stadium.
Speaking after the game, the Barnet manager said:
“All of the players did a fantastic job. As we know, it’s a hard place to come; their form here last season was right up there with the best of them and with the wind and the slope it was never going to be an easy game.
“But, for the first 25 minutes of that game, it was the best I’ve ever seen any Barnet team I’ve been involved with play. They were absolutely fantastic. I thought that we had two definite penalties, numerous chances to score goals and really after 20 minutes the game should have been dead and buried and well out the way.
“It’s been a good day for our club and especially for all our supporters that were out in the rain like I was. It was a terrific day out for our club.”
Having seen Barnet’s play-off hopes suffer a blow with a draw at the same venue towards the end of last season, Martin believes that the victory this time around proves just how far the side has come in a short space of time:
“It’s a different team now; it’s a different group of players and a different mentality.
“Playing up the slope in the second-half and playing against the wind in the second-half, you have to have discipline and you can’t give away silly fouls.
“You have to stay in your positions, do your job right and protect your goal for everything that it’s worth and, God bless, all eleven did that and all eleven did their part.”
The result also gave Barnet their fifth clean sheet from just six games so far this season and means that the Bees are still yet to concede on the road this term, a defensive record that Martin credits to the entire
squad:
“All the squad are working hard. You can put three subs on, the other day we put on a different three subs, we’ve got players right through our squad who can go on, make a difference and play in our team.
“We put Jack Saville on to play with five at the back, with three big centre-backs, because they’re a very big team and to help defend the set plays. Southport are dangerous in that area and Jack went on and did well. It’s a credit to all the players and all the squad.”
Finally, Martin was full of praise for the 105 travelling fans that backed the Bees throughout, and now hopes that recent results will help to attract even more supporters to games during what is shaping up to be a memorable campaign:
“Someone just whispered in my ear that we’ve gone back top of the league, so hopefully all of our supporters back home in London are starting to get a little feel now for it.
“It’s been a difficult couple of years and I really sympathise with all the Barnet supporters, but hopefully now they can see we’ve got a pretty decent team and they all work very hard for one another.
“We’ve got a little bit of quality in our team and I think the players respect everybody that pays to watch them and I think we’re going to have a very good season.
“I think with a little bit of help from us, the Barnet supporters will start creeping back and I hope they will.”
