Martin Allen remaining grounded despite Barnet victory

Posted Saturday, March 31, 2018 by PA

Martin Allen refused to get carried away after his Barnet side won 2-1 against Crewe.

John Akinde scored two penalties, either side of Harry McKirdy’s close-range goal for the Railwaymen, to give Barnet all three points.

Akinde put the hosts ahead from the penalty spot in the 51st minute but they were pegged back in the 71st minute when George Ray looped a header to the back post and McKirdy was able to steer it in.

The match appeared to be heading for a draw but in the 87th minute the Bees won their second penalty of the match and Akinde made no mistake from the spot to revive Barnet’s Sky Bet League Two survival hopes.

Allen said: “That was exciting! I thought the players played with great commitment, passion and attitude. We were a little bit edgy in the first half but much better in the second.

“I didn’t see too much danger apart from their goal they scored and the subs came on to help us change the game.

“The people singing their hearts out, singing ‘We’re on our way’ brought back great memories and I had to swallow a couple of times when I heard that.

“I’m fully aware of the unrest among a lot of the supporters so I was delighted when they all stayed behind at the end to cheer their players off.

“We put in a lot of work to get into the Football League and we’re going to have to put up a fight to stay in it.”

His opposite number, Crewe manager David Artell, disputed the validity of the second penalty.

“The first one was, the second one wasn’t. I’m not going to say any more,” Artell said.

“You can’t do anything about referees making horrific decisions. I can’t lambast my players for something a maths teacher does.

“We didn’t deserve to win, we didn’t deserve to lose. A draw would have been a fair result.

“The conditions were terrible, the pitch was poor because of the weather, but we tried to play football. I’d never criticise the players for that.

“I’m struggling to remember them having a chance – they hit the bar when the ball fell to their player. Have they crafted a chance? No. The referee gave them two penalties and that changes games.

“We gave the ball away probably more times today than we have in the last games. Our possession retention was poor. Without possession we were fine, we defended manfully.”