Barnet head coach Martin Allen labelled Graham Stack as unbelievable after the goalkeeper played in Saturday's 3-1 win at Altrincham despite injuring his arm ten minutes before kick off.

The former Arsenal gloveman has only recently returned to training after a period of rest in order to recover from injury.

However, Allen revealed the 33-year-old almost missed the victory at Moss Lane following a freak accident prior to kick off.

He said: "Graham Stack on the way in from the warm-up before the game slipped on the step going into the dressing room and the door handle has gone halfway into his arm believe it or not. That happened at ten to three. 

“We had to go and see the referee and ask if Sam Cowler could play.

"If you’d seen him, he was crashed out on the floor just before kick-off – so how he came out and did what he did today was quite unbelievable.” 

Stack helped the Bees pick up their first win in three against the Robins thanks to goals from Michael Gash (2) and John Akinde.

The home side, who were reduced to ten men when Tom Marshall brought down Akinde in the penalty area, got one back through Damian Reeves but ought to have scored already after Nicky Clee blasted a first-half penalty over Stack's crossbar.

Allen took the chance to shake the side up, making four changes to the side beaten by Grimsby.

The Bees boss explained: "I thought that the players that came in did very well. I just thought that we needed to freshen it up and I thought that it was an excellent performance. I suppose you could say that the changes we have made have benefitted us. 

“(Andy) Yiadom got injured in training on Thursday so he couldn’t play and (Sam) Togwell failed a fitness test on Friday so he couldn’t play. I thought that Lee Cook and Charlie MacDonald needed to be rested. 

“They have played just about every game for us and run themselves into the ground so I just thought that we needed to freshen it up with some fresh legs. Sometimes these things work when you do them and it has done today."