Barnet manager Dean Brennan admitted his side were not at the races after the runaway National League leaders saw their unbeaten run come to an end in a 2-1 defeat at Braintree Town.
The Bees hadn’t lost in the National League since a 3-1 reverse at York City on October 22 and had won their last nine matches.
But Braintree’s John Akinde slotted a late penalty to halt his former club's seamless charge towards the title.
Callum Stead put Brennan’s men ahead on 36 minutes but Kyreece Lisbie responded five minutes later.
Substitute Joe Grimwood was shown a red card for bringing down Akinde with just two minutes of normal time remaining, and the striker converted the spot-kick to give the Iron a deserved victory.
“We weren’t unlucky. The better team won, and I thought they were, if not more goals better than us, in their level of performance. I’ll congratulate them. That’s the first time we’ve been beat since October in the division,” Brennan told the club website.
“I suppose, from our point of view, the standard we set ourselves we definitely didn’t reach. Nowhere near. To a man, we were really poor, and if anything, the turnout we had today from our supporters – they didn’t really deserve that.
“But I have to congratulate the opposition because I thought they were outstanding.”
Defeat leaves Barnet eight points clear of second-placed York with just five games remaining.
But the boss was in no mood for sentiment and slammed his side’s performance.
He added: “I didn’t think we were good at all in any phase of the game. I thought we were rubbish. I’ve got to be honest - we didn’t look strong in any phases.
"We gave up too many chances. We didn’t clear our lines well enough. We didn’t overload the opposition in possession well enough.
“I thought their eight (Marley Marshall-Miranda) was outstanding. I thought he dominated the midfield physically. He did a great job for them defensively. I thought their front three were much more threatening than ours.
“We both played the same system, and at the end of the day, you know we have to respect the result and respect the opposition, but the standards we’ve set ourselves, that’s nowhere near good enough, and I’ve told the players.”
London rivals Wealdstone – who are fighting for survival just five points clear of the relegation zone – travel to the Hive to face the Bees for a lunchtime kick-off this weekend.
“It’s a derby. A 50-50 game. League tables go out the window. Even today, it just shows you how difficult it is to go and win away at these places,” added Brennan.
“You can’t take for granted winning at Rochdale 4-0, winning at Oldham 3-0, and winning at Altrincham 1-0. You can’t take these things for granted. Your mentality has to be right in this business week in, week out for 46 games.
“Our mentality and what we served up today is nowhere near good enough.”
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