Martin Allen encouraged his Barnet side to step it up at half time and was rewarded as the Bees secured a 1-0 win over second-placed Plymouth Argyle at The Hive.

The first half was a stop-start affair with serious injuries to Pilgrims duo Jordon Forster and Ryan Brunt disrupting the game and resulting in 14 minutes of injury time.

After the break the visitors put the Barnet goal under pressure and saw plenty of the ball without scoring.

Barnet captain Andy Yiadom finished a neat team move off in the 69t th minute to give Barnet the lead against the run of play.

The Bees grew in confidence from that point and created several excellent opportunities to enhance their lead without punishing Plymouth.

Head coach Allen felt it was a deserved win for his side and said: “I thought it was an ok performance in the first half.

“I thought Plymouth played quite well in the first half and I don’t think we actually made our mark on the game.

“At half-time I encouraged our players to show some more self-belief, a bit more tenacity and some more courage. We certainly stepped it up in the second half.”

He continued: “We’ve got 14 players in our squad, plus four youth team players.

"It’s a nice feeling to have all these young lads around us. We are changing it game after game and everybody that comes in keeps doing well.

“It was a very good second half performance, up there with the best.

“We are evolving and we are moving forward as a group. We’ve got some very good young players coming through as well.

“It was a robbery at Accrington Stanley, there’s no doubt about that, but tonight I thought we were good value for that win.”

The Bees have now taken seven points from their last three League Two fixtures, beating Portsmouth and Plymouth as well as coming from behind to draw at Accrington Stanley on Saturday.

It was put to Allen that points total represented a better return than would be expected of his side.

“Yes, they’ve been tough games for the opposition, you’re absolutely right. Playing against our team is tough,” joked Allen.

“It was nearly two years ago we played here against Halifax Town and the score was a 4-0 defeat. It could have been about 12-0.

“From that day onwards we’ve changed the whole group in a very short space of time.

“We made changes in early January and late December; we’re evolving and moving forward as a group.

“We’ve got some very good young players coming through as well and another young lad played tonight who was 18 (Matt Stevens).

“We’re all moving forward. Tonight I thought we were good value for the good and everyone played with top spirit.”

Click here to read the match report from The Hive.