Martin Allen admitted it might have been a case of “after the Lord Mayor’s show” as Barnet lost 3-1 at home to Hartlepool United days after beating Plymouth Argyle at The Hive.

A 1-0 victory over promotion-chasing Argyle on Tuesday added to a remarkable comeback to draw at Accrington Stanley last Saturday and a similarly impressive win over Portsmouth the week before.

However, the Bees were unable to replicate those performances or results against struggling Pools.

They made the ideal start when Fumnaya Shomotun rifled in his first professional goal after 11 minutes.

Lewis Hawkins hit back with a stunning effort from distance in the 34th minute. Six minutes later he scored another to turn the game in the north east side’s favour.

Nathan Thomas completed the scoring just after the hour to end Barnet’s three-game unbeaten run.

Reflecting on defeat, head coach Allen said: “I thought that in general it was a little bit flat today – you could say it was case of ‘after the Lord Mayor’s show’, after the win against Plymouth and the draw against Accrington in the same week.

“After beating Portsmouth here too – the same spirit wasn’t within the group today.

“The players have done really well recently, there’s no doubt about that.”

He added: “I thought it was a very good start from the team. We tried to get the ball down and play and move the ball around the pitch.

“I thought we did that really well for 25 or 30 minutes.

“We’ve had some really good performances against some of the top teams in the last couple of weeks, but today we lacked energy, legs, athleticism and mobility after half an hour.”

Despite losing to a side who are battling to stay in the Football League, Allen was still able to take some positives from the game.

“Obviously we’ll learn from what’s happened today, then we’ll take it into the next game on Tuesday,” he said.

“There are always positives and you’ve got to help the players rather than criticise them.

“They’re a very conscientious group of professionals, they’re good people, and they’ve done really well for Barnet in our first season back in League Two.

“I’ve got to help them and support them now.

“Fumnaya Shomotun’s come in and scored a brilliant goal, and Matty Stevens nearly scored at the end with a header.

“There were some good individual performances, but on the day there weren’t enough of them.”