Barnet player-coach Jon Nurse is backing the Bees to bounce straight back from their midweek defeat at Macclesfield at the weekend, with Kidderminster Harriers heading to The Hive on Saturday.

Speaking to the club’s official website before training on Friday, Nurse reflected on the loss to the Silkmen and admitted that it just wasn’t the Bees night at Moss Rose:

“It is always disappointing not to win but I think it just shows how hard and how tough the league is.

“We have gone away to Macclesfield on a Tuesday night after a string of tough games and we played well for the majority of the game but were just unlucky not to get that goal. It was just one of those games where it wasn’t meant to be.”

The defeat was just the Bees’ third of the season, and with Martin Allen’s men yet to lose back-to-back games this season, Nurse is confident that with the help of their home fans Barnet can quickly return to winning ways against Kidderminster tomorrow:

“We don’t accept defeat. We come back in on the training pitch, we work even harder and we put it right in the next game.

“That is the key to success. You are going to lose along the way but it is how you bounce back from those defeats. At the moment we have bounced back very well and I believe that that will continue to happen because of the character that we have in the dressing room.

“The boys really enjoy playing at home and the atmosphere that is being built at the moment means that it is a great place to play our football. We are always excited to play at The Hive and we will be looking to set a few things straight.

“Our home form has got to be good throughout the season and it is good at the moment.  Our goals-for ratio is the best in the league and the atmosphere here is electric so if the fans continue to get behind us like they have done then it should be a great game tomorrow.”

It has been a busy period for the Bees, with the team playing eight games in the last month alone, and Nurse admits that this is where the entire squad play their part as Barnet look to maintain their position at the top of the table:

“September in the Conference since I have known it has always been the toughest month, going Saturday-Tuesday for the whole month. So you need your squad and to shuffle it around a bit in order to keep players happy and make sure that everybody feels a part of what we are doing.

“As you have probably seen, with having a few boys out injured I’ve been getting a few minutes recently! But it is nice to see those boys return to full fitness and give the gaffer a bit of a selection headache.

“When you see those boys returning to the bench you start to see how good a squad we do have and how important that will be throughout the season so it is very good news for us to have those players back.

“Eleven players are not going to win us the league; it will very much be a squad effort so it is important that everybody gets minutes on the pitch.”