Graham Westley delighted with positive response from his Barnet players

Posted Sunday, February 25, 2018 by PA

Barnet manager Graham Westley was full of praise for his players after they won 1-0 at Colchester United to boost their survival hopes.

Alex Nicholls latched onto John Akinde’s pass to score the Bees’ 67th-minute winner from close range and earn them a precious win, although they remain six points adrift of safety in League Two.

Westley said: “The Carlisle defeat (last Tuesday) was a devastating one to take because we had played so well, for so long.

“But it’s not when you hit the deck that you get defined, it’s how you react and I think the players worked really hard to show what I’ve said about them since I came to the club – that there are some really talented players here and tremendous spirit, desire and work-rate among the boys.

“I thought they were absolutely first class today, from minute one to minute 94 – they did what they needed to do and they out-run, out-fought and out-played the opponents and got the important goal to win the game.

“The fight and desire was there for everyone to see but the quality was there, as well.

“It wasn’t a game where we won it on sheer blood and guts.

“It was a game where we put some really good passages of play and chances together and on a different day, could have won by more than the one goal.”

Colchester head coach John McGreal admits his side deserved nothing from the game, after they fell to back-to-back defeats.

McGreal said: “I’m thoroughly disappointed.

“From minute one, we tried to set a bit of a tempo and it didn’t work.

“You have to give Barnet a bit of credit for what they did against us but it was a poor performance.

“It was nip and tuck and the pitch wasn’t the best.

“We just had to try and change tact and we didn’t play the flowing football we played here a couple of weeks ago against Coventry.

“It was a different game and we tried to adapt to it.

“We had a couple of half chances before half-time and we changed the system to try and be positive but it just didn’t work and they got a goal out of nothing.

“They only had a handful of chances but they worked ever so hard and they deserved their win.

“It was a thoroughly disappointing performance, especially in front of our home fans.”

Ryan Watson and Alex Nicholls had gone close early on for Barnet, while the closest Colchester came to scoring was late in the first half when Brandon Comley’s excellent 25-yard strike flashed inches wide of the upright and Barnet’s debutant keeper George Legg denied Courtney Senior in the area.