Mauro Vilhete said he was ‘over the moon’ to help Barnet return to the top of the league on Saturday, as his second goal of the season set up a thrilling 5-0 win over Welling United at The Hive.

Speaking after the game, the winger reflected on a convincing win that also saw the Bees record their first clean sheet in eight:

“We’re over the moon to be back on top of the league.

“We always set out to work as a team – to get the ball and press as high up as possible and make sure that we get the ball back and go at them, rather than them attacking us, so it was a good thing to get a clean sheet.

“The sending off maybe did help us a little bit. We were already on top, but it just gave us a little bit of a boost, to be honest. We were already 2-0 up at that stage and commanding the game.”

The game against the Wings saw Mauro make his third consecutive start in a week, and having helped the team to take seven points from a possible nine during that time he is delighted to have played his part in helping the Bees return to the top:

“Everyone always wants to play. Especially when you are up at the top, you always want to be on the pitch helping the boys. The manager has got tough decisions to make but we have got to get on with what we are doing and help the team out.

“I would like to play in my position but if I am helping the team out I don’t really care where the manager plays me. I will always be willing to help but it is nice to get a run out in my own position. Hopefully I am doing what is needed to be done for me to stay in that position.

“We could have won the game at Halifax on Tuesday, but we have done well by going away twice in the space of three days and picked up almost as many points as we could.

“Even though some results have not gone our way, I think we have always known how good we were and we always knew we would bounce back. We have managed to do that and hopefully we can win all our games from now on.”

As Barnet’s longest-serving player, the 21-year-old admits that it makes a change to be involved in a battle at the top end of the table and with just six games left to go he is now determined to help see the job through to the end:

“It is the first time I have been up here, in the first team throughout a whole season and it is a good feeling, the best feeling in fact, and I want more of that. Wherever I am, I just want to make sure we are up there rather than fighting down at the bottom, so we will see what happens.

“Our aim is to win, get as many points as we can and be champions. It is all down to us really. We know what position we are in, we want to stay in that position and it all comes down to our results.”