Martin Allen believes it was only fair to give Barnet’s less-utilised assists the opportunity to impress following the end of their play-off hopes.

The head-coach made eight changes for yesterday’s 0-1 win over Nuneaton Town and he was impressed with what he saw.

Speaking post-match, Allen praised his squad for their work on and off the pitch since his arrival. 

“I wanted to see them all play; I thought it was only being fair to them all,” explained Allen.

“Since I’ve been here all those lads have all trained really hard and they haven’t always had an opportunity with me because I had to stick to that team up until Halifax and we still had a chance of getting in [the play-offs]."

Allen continued: “Once that went out the window that Saturday afternoon I promised all these lads straight away that I‘d give them a break, so it’s nice to see them play.

“We’ve played a different system, we’ve played a different way and with Dick’s [Schreuder] help over the last couple of days we’ve bedded it in, which has been good.”

Allen continued by reflecting on the game explaining that the Bees were dominant from start to finish despite making wholesale changes. 

“I thought it was an excellent first half performance to be fair. We were the away team, made eight changes to our team and they never had one shot at our goal.

“The second we half we changed it a little bit, we wanted to win, so we tried to be a little bit more open and expressive in the way we played. The game plan was to keep a clean sheet and win the game and that’s exactly how it worked out.”