Barnet head coach Darren Currie said he had “so much respect” for his players after they recorded their first league win of 2019 with a 3-1 success over Barrow.

The Bees led 3-0 by the 74th minute after Elliot Johnson, Shaq Coulthirst and a Dan Jones own goal put them in charge, but Barrow managed to get on the scoresheet late on through Kyle Jameson.

Currie said to the club’s website after the game: “[They were] outstanding, all of them. We’ve played better and taken nothing from the game before, but today’s game I needed men, I needed characters and we needed to play a particular way and they’ve done that for me today.

“I’ve got so much respect for them for doing that and credit to the boys today. I’m gutted we never held on and kept a clean sheet but three goals, people putting their bodies on the line late on, three points, I’m very happy.”

Despite their well-documented success in the FA Cup this season, as well as a good run in the FA Trophy, Currie’s side have struggled in the league since the turn of the year, but the boss was pleased with the character they showed to finally get that monkey off their back.

He said: “We want to win games and I’ve just said to the players in there that there’s going to be games that maybe go like that and we have to show that type of character and I think they showed great character today, so I’m pleased for everyone in the changing room.”

With the home side up by three goals going into the latter stages of the game, they had to soak up a lot of pressure as Barrow tried their best to get back into it, but Currie was pleased with the manner in which Barnet dealt with the pressure, even if their defence was breached once.

He said: “We haven’t been in that comfortable a position often enough so managing the game was tricky and we got deeper and deeper. We haven’t had good results of late, the confidence isn’t there, but sometimes you just need to grind out a win and we grinded out that win today and hopefully they’ll gain some confidence from that.

“They’ve all put a shift in for each other and they’ve put a shift in for me, so I’m really pleased.”

Jack Barham played the full 90 minutes after returning early from his loan spell at Welling, and Currie thought that he had come back with far more confidence than he had prior to his time away.

He said: “Jack will always give you 110 per cent, there’s no doubt about that and like I’ve said with Tuts (David Tutonda) and I’ve been saying with Jack, these boys have gone out, got some minutes, got some goals and come back with more confidence.

“He was excellent for us today, constantly running, working his socks off, even defending towards the end as well. He was one of 11 outstanding performers today.”

Barnet will look to further close the gap between themselves and mid-table tomorrow night when they make the trip to FC Halifax Town, with kick-off at 7.45pm.