Martin Allen believes Mansfield Town and Morecambe are clubs which Barnet should aim to replicate as they look to avoid becoming a yo-yo club.

The Bees needed late rescue acts for three consecutive seasons before they were finally relegated out of the Football League in 2013 under Edgar Davids.

Mansfield, who won 3-1 at The Hive on Saturday as Josh Clarke was sent off for the Bees, are in their third season back in the Football League whilst Morecambe have established themselves in League Two since winning promotion via the Conference play-offs in 2007.

“Without being a killjoy and without being Nobby Negative, I think solidity is what we’re looking for,” said Allen.

“It’s a great challenge and it’s one I really enjoy. We are playing against good clubs and it’s going to take a little bit of time to put it all back together.

“The aim is to secure our place in the Football League. We’ve been a yo-yo club for years going up and down. We’ve got to get this place firmly established in the Football League then it will be my job to improve the team and then I’d say Mansfield and Morecambe have been role models for where we need to be moving.”

The Bees conceded seven goals in two games with defeats at Notts County and against the Stags last week but whilst Allen is concerned by that statistic, he expected tough times following promotion.

He said: “It's definitely a concern. I was saying a couple of weeks ago even though the game against Morecambe wasn’t great, we picked up a point and kept a clean sheet.

“I think we had a couple of clean sheets – without being spectacular – that we were all pleased about. We need to get back to that,” added Allen.

“These footballers are all a bit sensitive and they’ve all been used to winning for the last year to win the Conference.

“We’ve brought some new ones in and the step-up hasn’t been easy so there are going to be times like this. We’ve got to work out way through it. The bottom line is, at any level, you’ve got to be difficult to beat. The other part comes afterwards.

“At the moment I don’t think we’re quite as competitive as we have been in the past.”

Barnet will look to halt their slump on Saturday when they host League Two rivals Newport County in the FA Cup second round.