Martin Allen says Barnet failed to deal with the aerial threat posed by Kidderminster Harriers in Saturday’s 3-3 draw at The Hive.

The Bees took a 3-0 lead into the break following strikes from Luisma Villa, Lee Cook and John Akinde.

However, half-time substitute Michael Gash quickly hit back after the re-start for Kiddy, who secured a point thanks to two identical headers from strike partner Nathan Blissett within 60 seconds of one another.

Asked why the game had changed so dramatically after the break, Allen replied: “They made a couple of substitutions at half-time and they went a bit more direct and we never dealt with it to be honest – which is not like our players; they have been on it since day one.

“With the second half we just were not quite there; for some reason we just were not quite there.”

And after back-to-back matches without victory for just the second time this season, Allen insisted the focus now turns to eradicating the defensive errors which have undermined the Bees in recent weeks.

He explained: “It is not easy to lift their spirits after that. We have got to get back in for training, have a look at the DVD and have a look at what has happened: why we did not win, why we never played so well in the second half; get to the bottom of it and help them with it on Tuesday.

“[There will be] no shouting or ranting and raving – it is just not worth it. [We will] help them, work on it, try to get the positives out of the performance and then try to improve the other areas [in which] we have not done so well.”

Turning the focus to the positives, Allen acknowledged the importance of players such as Luisma and Cook in scoring goals from nothing.

He said: “They are both good players, Cooky and Luisma. It is not always easy to play Cooky three times a week but on a good pitch, which we have got, and trying to play the way we played, it got him on the ball a lot more than he has been used to playing away from home.

“Both of them are talented players and both of them are good people and they are going to have a good part to play through the season.”