Barnet captain Mark Hughes admitted he has not played in another match like the Bees 2-1 defeat to Crawley Town.

Lawrie Sanchez’s side controlled the game throughout. They went ahead in the opening period through Ricky Holmes and missed several chances to establish a bigger advantage before the break.

However, the Reds levelled soon after the restart through John Dempster and went ahead as Scott Davies speculative 30-yard shot deflected into the net.

Barnet continued to create opportunities but were denied by an impressive performance from Michel Kuipers. And when the Crawley keeper was beaten, the crossbar or one of his defenders came to his aid.

The Bees skipper said: "I don’t think I have played in a game like it before to be honest. The first half was so one sided and we had so many shots on target.

"Our pressure on their players was good and everyone came in at half time and were saying the right things.

"But to concede a set-piece was sloppy, I thought when the cross came in there was a push in the box. But then we went 2-1 down with their only real shot of the game.

"Credit to the lads because we kept going. We had two or three cleared of the line, Izale hit the bar and it was just mad."

He continued: "I thought the goal was coming. After going behind it was disappointing but we just kept having more shots. Their keeper has made so many saves in the last five minutes. If there were two or three more minutes I think we would’ve got the goal.

"I think the only positive is that we didn’t drop into the bottom two because after the performance we put in we didn’t deserve to be."

Barnet’s League Two survival is still in their own hands and the Bees host basement side Hereford United on Friday.

Sanchez’s men then travel to Southend United before welcoming AFC Wimbledon to Underhill for their final home game of the campaign.

Barnet round off the season with an away game at Burton Albion but Hughes believes their league status could be confirmed before that game.

"We have two home games and two away games remaining. If we win our two homes matches we will probably be safe. So we now need to go out and do it."

There’s been a more positive atmosphere at Underhill in recent fixtures and the Bees skipper believes that stems from good performances.

Looking ahead to the Hereford clash he said: "It’s a six pointer obviously, but if we can repeat the performance against Crawley then we should win. So that’s the outlook that we have to have."

He added: "We got clapped off (against Crawley) and the fan's support was excellent again. I think they saw the effort that we put into the game.

"I think it started from Torquay because we raised the bar. Against Crawley it was another one of those performances so we just have to make sure that we keep the level high for the rest of the season."