Martin Allen felt Barnet had played better in their first two games of the season despite losing but claimed he was not disappointed with the Bees’ first-half display in their 2-0 win over Northampton Town tonight.

The victory is Barnet’s first since returning to the Football League and John Akinde’s two goals were the club’s first in the league since their return to League Two.

But it was the display of Luke Gambin from the substitutes’ bench which turned a previously drab display into victory, winning the penalty for Akinde to open the scoring before the powerful number nine snatched a second at the death.

Speaking afterwards Allen was measured in his praise of the side and admitted the Bees had not reached the same levels as in defeats against Leyton Orient and Wycombe Wanderers.

He said: “We have played better in the other games and not won, to be honest, it is a funny game. The other performances have been much better than that today but we have come away with a win.

“It is good for the players; I think it is a relief for the players and probably a massive relief for the supporters.”

Barnet had been poor in the first half and the Cobblers had shaded a low-quality affair by going close through Sam Hoskins and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

But Allen did not see it that way when asked and said: “It is all part and parcel of it and they can’t play well every game.

“How many times last year did we not play very well, win 1-0 and just do the job? Tonight I don’t think we did anything special but we did the job.

“When you don’t win for a few games there is bound to be that bit of nervous tension.

"It is my job to help the players with that, like we did last year when we had a tricky spell. We kept going through right until the very end and won the championship. You need balls to win a championship and these players have got it in abundance.”

But Allen did acknowledge that after putting points on the board at the third time of asking, a weight had been lifted from his players.

“I would say it is [a weight off their shoulders],” admitted Allen. “Northampton had won three out of three and not conceded a goal, so we were playing against a good team with good players. Chris Wilder puts together good teams.

“It is a good performance, an ok performance and it is nice for all the players to get something on the board.”

You can read the match report from tonight’s win over the Cobblers by clicking here.