Martin Allen explains why top scorer John Akinde missed Barnet's goalless draw at home to Carlisle United this afternoon

The striker was a surprise absentee from Barnet’s matchday squad. Shaun Batt and Michael Gash paired together up front and no strikers on the bench.

However, the former 11-goal forward was at The Hive despite rumours of a switch to Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Speaking afterwards Allen explained why Akinde hadn’t been involved.

“We lost John Akinde at one o’clock with a tight hamstring,” he said. “Gashy (Michel Gash) has had a tight hamstring in training so we’re going to have to ease off somehow.

“We haven’t been doing a lot because of the cold weather and we’re getting to that stage of the season where we are picking up a few strains and my teams don’t normally get those.”

Asked if there had been any offers for last season’s 31-goal Conference top scorer, Allen replied: “Not that I know of. He’s had a tight hamstring all week and he said to me before the game it didn’t feel right.

“If John’s not right he doesn’t play. He has to be 110 per cent fit. He has to be well looked after and managed. His game is about pace and power so he’s got to be right.”

John Akinde holds the ball up against Blackpool in the FA Cup. Picture: Dave Loveday

Meanwhile, Matt Stevens played for the Under-18s, scoring in 3-3 draw with Gillingham - a decision which looked strange as there was no striker on the bench for the first team.

"I thought little Matty Stevens needed to have a game so he’s played for the youth team this morning," explained Allen.

Without Akinde the Bees passed up numerous presentable chances to claim all three points against the Cumbrians.

Despite seeing less of the ball in the second period, Allen felt the Bees were unfortunate not to clinch back-to-back wins.

He said: “We were definitely unlucky not to win with those chances in the first half.

“I don’t think we played as well as we have been playing but once we settled down after 20 minutes and moved the ball around we looked comfortable, opened them up a little bit and had three good chances.

“When (Shaun) Batt was through one-v-one I thought he was going to get past him and bury that and that would’ve been great for him. All the players here love him.”

Akinde wasn’t the only player who wasn’t fit.

Gash was also suffering from a tight hamstring and Allen felt the fitness of his forwards had a bearing on Barnet’s struggle to get out of their half after the break.

He said: “In the second half I thought it was a bit of a struggle for us to get up the pitch.

“Michael Gash has had a hamstring injury and has hardly trained. He did me a favour today to play. Shaun Batt was going to be a sub because John Akinde’s hamstring was tight before the game.

Michael Gash gives chase in the FA Cup win over Blackpool. Picture: Dave Loveday

“We threw Shaun in and we were expecting 60 or 70 minutes out of him. But God bless he ran himself into the ground.

"He got tired in the second half for that one chance where he thought he was going to do his bit to finish it off."

Allen continued: "It was difficult for us to get our team up the pitch to play higher up because it was difficult for our forward players because they’re not quite at full fitness. The ball kept coming back so there was relentless pressure.

“In the past there’s been numerous times where you play those games and lose 1-0 off a sneaky counterattack.

“But I don’t think in the second half they had an effort on our goal. They had some pressure but they didn’t break our lines. We defended resolutely and with discipline.

“It’s another clean sheet and another important point on the board. We weren’t at top form. We were half a yard short.”

Click here to read the match report from The Hive.