Barnet extended their winning run to seven games as a 1-0 victory at Woking stretched their lead at the top of the National League table to 11 points.
Dean Brennan’s side, now unbeaten in 23 league outings, emerged with all three points as Rhys Browne returned to haunt his former employers with the only goal.
Although the Bees manager was impressed with his side’s determination to grind out another away win, he expressed some concerns about the quality of Woking’s pitch and the standard of refereeing.
A fired-up Brennan said: “The pitch today was nearly as bad as the referee. The standard of officiating today was shambolic, horrendous. Neal Ardley’s a top, top manager – he don’t deserve a pitch like that.
"That was one of the worst games I’ve seen in my life, but you can’t string two passes together. A Sunday park league (pitch) is better. What are they doing at this club? This used to be a great club, Woking.
“I’ll tell you what my team did – if you want to have the referee against you, you want to have the opposition against you, the pitch against you? The way we play, we can mix it. If you want to box, we can box. If you want to scrap, we can scrap. Whatever way you want to do it, we’ll do it. That’s what our players did.”
Along with another win on the road, the leaders have now gone five consecutive National League games without conceding a goal, boasting the joint second-best defensive record in the division.
“One nil – it's the best scoreline in football. We got a clean sheet; how many is that on the run?” Brennan told the club website.
"That’s seven wins on the bounce. I don’t even look at the records. How many are we unbeaten now? I don’t know exactly what it is, but this team can come up against it. Whatever it is, we come up against it.
“We’ve got another tough game next against Altrincham. There’s no doubt their pitch will be better because this pitch has got to be the worst in the league.”
Browne returned to Kingfield Stadium with a solid performance after falling ill a fortnight ago and was on target for the sixth time this season from just nine starts.
“He was out ill, and obviously he came off the bench last week (against Dagenham). He was out ill for probably about ten days the week before that. It was a great finish,” said Brennan.
“Concentration, half-volley. Second phase from a long throw. Do I want to be throwing balls into the opposition’s box and launching it and not stringing passes together? No, not really.
"You can’t come here and play pretty football. We’ve got people like Billy Clifford, who’s a technician, and Anthony Hartigan fighting and battling in midfield. That tells you everything you need to know.”
Barnet face a trip to Altrincham this weekend with just nine matches to play and the National League crown firmly in their sights.
