Barnet player-coach Jon Nurse believes The Bees’ 1-0 win over Aldershot Town highlighted the strength in depth available to Martin Allen, with the incoming Mauro Vilhete and Keanu Marsh-Brown impressing.

Charlie MacDonald’s 19th-minute strike was enough to separate the two sides, and with Bristol Rovers held to a 1-1 draw by Torquay United, extend Barnet’s lead at the summit of the Conference to nine points.

Standing in for head coach Allen at full time, Nurse said: “The changes are the gaffer showing the belief he has in the squad and I think you have seen from today’s performance what a strong squad he has put together and the belief he has shown today worked in our favour.

“Keanu I thought was brilliant today. The gaffer spoke about him after the previous game (against Dover Athletic) and I think he has taken that on board with his performance today.

“Mauro just showed the strength in depth we have got in the squad when the gaffer can leave him out and put him back in and he puts in a performance like he did today.”

Nurse continued: “There are a lot of unsung heroes in our team; a lot of the plaudits go to the forwards because they score the goals that win the games. But we kept a clean sheet today and the team works religiously, day-in-day-out on the training pitch to go out and put a performance in like that to win 1-0 in those kind of games.”

And the former Barbados international lauded the character of the side after completing their fourth game in 12 days: “As you go throughout the season you start to the build the character that you are talking about, that the players had to show today.

“A lot of it is mental and physical because they have to be physically right to play that many games in a short space of time.

“The boys will perform as they have done throughout the whole season and show true grit and determination to get the performances and result we deserve.”

Nurse was also able to confirm neither John Akinde nor Graham Stack had suffered any lasting damage after both appearing to suffer knocks against The Shots.

“John is fine. The size of him, he is going to get knocks as the season goes on but he keeps smiling and carried on.

“Stacky is fine. They kept a clean sheet today, so that answers any questions you’ve got,” he added.

You can read the match report from today's 1-0 win by clicking here.