Barnet midfielder Sam Togwell admitted the Bees “took their foot off the gas” but was adamant they could have have stepped up a gear if they “needed” in their 2-0 win at Nuneaton Town.

After a slow start against Lincoln City last Saturday, Martin Allen’s side were back to their best early on and went 2-0 up after just 13 minutes through Charlie MacDonald.

From there, though, the visitors could not force a third as they took charge of the contest for the remainder of the first half.

Hosts Nuneaton were brighter after the break but only carved out a handful of chances as the Bees eased to their third win from their first four Conference fixtures.

“We took our foot off the gas in the second half, but if we needed to, we could have gone again,” said Togwell.

“The wind played a part. We did take our foot off the gas but we’ve got a game on Monday and you’ve got to think of your body. Had we have needed to step it up again we would have, I’ve got no doubt about that, but the first-half performance showed us we are capable of doing well.”

After conceding their first goals of the season in the 2-1 defeat by the Imps last Saturday, the former Crystal Palace midfielder was pleased to play his part in a third clean sheet of the season.

He said: “For defenders, that’s their highlight, keeping a clean sheet and the keeper as well. The whole team, you’ve got to enjoy keeping clean sheets as much as you have scoring and if you don’t keep one, you’ve [usually] got to score two.

“Today Stacky (Graham Stack) made a good save at the end; [they had] two half-chances at the end but that was it for the whole game.”

Leading 2-0 after 13 minutes, it was evident on several occasions the Bees were given too much time and space to keep possession and dictate the tempo but it wasn’t just a shortcoming of the home side, according to the Beaconsfield-born midfielder.

Explained Togwell: “That’s no disrespect to the other team, I think that’s just good work from us creating the spaces for myself, Curtis (Weston) and Cookie (Lee Cook) to get on the ball and Charlie (MacDonald) as well to pick it up in little pockets.

“That’s good work from our team but we do want to control the game and get the ball down and play. When you’ve got the likes of John Akinde up front and Charlie and young Jamal Lowe came off the bench, we’ve got pace and power, so at times you’ve got to go in behind and when they do, we know they’re a handful.”

Assessing the Bees’ start to the season, Togwell said: “What else can you ask for? Ten goals, two goals against and nine points. It’s gone really well to start.

"Obviously [there was] a little blip last week, that does happen sometimes but as long as it doesn’t happen too many times and we react like we did today (Saturday), we’ll be fine.”