Martin Allen fears his players may have lost a bit of confidence following a poor start to the season and has promised changes ahead of next Saturday’s showdown with York City.

The Bees were beaten 2-1 by Accrington Stanley this afternoon – their third straight defeat in League Two and their sixth in nine fixtures.

A Sam Togwell own goal saw Stanley edge ahead after 23 minutes before Michael Gash scored his fifth of the season to level things up before half time.

But an insipid second half followed and the visitors snuck the winner thanks to Sean McConville’s precise finish off the far post from an acute angle.

Reflecting on the Bees’ second home league defeat of the season, Allen said: “We’re going to have to make some changes. They need sparking up again.

“It looks like a few of them have lost a little bit of confidence. They don’t become bad players overnight.

“Some of them looked a bit heavy-legged today, which comes from a heavy mind. We’ve got to clear that negative attitude out.”

He continued: “I will chat with the players. The players need some help at the moment. They didn’t set off from their houses this morning with the intention of not playing well. So I need to help them, look after them and guide them.

“We will have to keep a nice level calm and try to help them through. Because they are great players and good people.

“We have a reserve game at Brentford on Tuesday at 1pm and it will be a chance for some of the other players to get some minutes under their belt.

“I’ll review it with the staff next Thursday and pick a team ready for the next home game here.”

Asked what the Bees could have done better, Allen said: “We could have passed it better, we could have competed better, we could have won our tackles better, we never won the knock-downs and bits and pieces, we never penetrated and I thought it was dull to be honest.

“Yes they (Accrington) are on good form, yes they have had some good results and yes they have got a few good players. But it’s very rare people come here and beat us like that.”

You can read the match report by clicking here.