Head coach Martin Allen insists he does not regret his decision to make three substitutions at half time of Barnet’s 4-1 loss at Lincoln City, despite the Bees’ being reduced to ten men soon after.

Allen introduced goal-scorer Luke Gambin, Keanu Marsh-Brown and David Hunt with Barnet trailing 2-0 at half time to goals from Ben Tomlinson and Alan Power. But ten minutes into the second period, Elliott Johnson had to be withdrawn due to a hamstring problem.

Down to ten men, the Bees conceded two further goals from Jon Nolan and Conner Robinson before Gambin netted a consolation effort at the death.

However speaking after the defeat Sincil Bank, where the Bees are winless since 1996, Allen explained he had no regrets over his decision to use all his available changes at the break.

He said:” No, [I do not regret the changes]. We had to do something different. We looked leggy as the game went on. The only regrets I have are when I do not make decisions. In the job I do you have to make decisions. If you are indecisive then you have got a problem.”

Explaining the triple switch, he mused: “[I wanted to] add pace.

“I needed something different in the middle of the pitch and (Keanu) Marsh-Brown and Gambin have got good energy. We had a couple more chances in the second half but it was not to be.

“We had a gamble in the second half but when it was 3-0 we were not sure really what to do to be honest. If we had have nicked a goal [it might have been different]. We decided to play with three up in a 4-2-3, hoping we might just nick something, but they were always going to be dangerous on the counter attack." 

He added: “At 3-0 down you have got to make a decision whether you are going to shut up shop and hope they do not get another one or to still go forward and hope you get something out of it. We tried that and they scored another one.”

The Bees boss was able to provide some detail on the injury which had forced Johnson off: “He has got a hamstring strain – our first one of the season,” revealed Allen.

“We do not know [how long he will be out for] yet, it will need a scan so we can see what the level is; whether it was a strain, he has overstretched or it was just cramp. We will only know that over the next few days.”

And assessing his side’s overall performance, Allen was far from downbeat following the Bees’ heaviest loss of the league campaign.

He opined: “It was a funny afternoon really – I do not mean funny ‘ha-ha’. We had some good chances in the first half – we had a lot of chances in the first half – but we found ourselves 2-0 down.

“I think, probably, we had more chances than they did but they were cleared off the line and blocked and to be fair to them, you can see the run they have been on and you can see how they got there.

“Fair play to them, today they were the better team, whether that has got anything to do with us playing three days ago and them having a ‘day off’, so to speak, [I do not know].”

You can read the match report from Barnet’s 4-1 loss against the Imps by clicking here.