9:10am Thursday 9th September 2010
BARNET boss Mark Stimson insists the team's recent revival has been down to good, old fashioned hard graft.
The Bees picked up their first win of the League Two season with an emphatic display against Cheltenham at Underhill on Saturday. That followed hot on the heels of an encouraging point against Bury.
The three points won at the weekend lifted Barnet off of the foot of the table, and propelled them up into 17th place.
Stimson was delighted with what he saw from his troops against Cheltenham, although he refused to get carried away, insisting his mind is focussed solely on the task in hand, which this week takes the shape of an away fixture with Lincoln City, who lie one place below the Bees in League Two.
“We hope we can push on now, but we're just going to take it one game at a time,” said Stimson. “We’ll enjoy this one then we’ll think about the next one. It's a nice week’s training with a win under our belt and if it needs to give players a lift it will. They know what’s expected of them.”
On-loan striker Phil Walsh struck with a brace of goals either side of half-time on Saturday, while man-of-the-match Mark Marshall added the third. All three strikes arrived after a stunning first minute Frankie Artus free-kick had put the visitors in front.
“Every manager will tell you he wants that first win, for the players and for the supporters. They could see the spirited, committed performance,” added Stimson.
“There's nothing better than scoring a few goals at home and long may that continue. They’ve worked hard over the past few weeks and not had many days off, we’ve had to go back to basics and knuckle down in every area of the pitch and today it worked.”
Saturday's result will have exorcised the demons from two weeks prior, when Barnet were put to the sword by Crewe Alexandra and walloped 7-0.
It is unlikely that scoreline will be repeated at Lincoln this week, as their maiden victory will no doubt have galvanised the players.
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