'˜It was bland, average, boring to watch,' says Chesterfield boss Martin Allen after defeat to Barnet

The Chesterfield boss said the players in blue failed to win their battles on a frustrating afternoon at the Proact.

He expects better from his squad.

“I thought it was a very disappointing performance, I don’t think we gave a very good account of ourselves in front of our supporters,” he said.

“I was okay with our performance last week at Salford, a couple of individual errors cost us in that game.

“Today we were no where near that standard, no where near it.

“I don’t think we played with the same energy, the same passion, the same will to win.

“It was bland, average, boring to watch, all the things we don’t like and don’t want to do.

“I think it’s fair to say it was the right result.”

Allen took the result on his own shoulders but said his players had to come out on top individually against their direct opponents.

“That’s my responsibility, let’s not beat about the bush. I train them, I prepare them and I take care of them.

“We didn’t win our battles. Perhaps I didn’t pick the right team, perhaps I didn’t prepare them properly.

“But when you cross that white line you’ve got to win your battles, your headers, your challenges.

“Seven or eight corners (in the second half) but you’ve still got to put your head on it and go and attack it.

“We were second on far, far too many set plays.

“That’s frustrating, that’s difficult to take.”

Without the injured Charlie Carter and the suspended Jerome Binnom-Williams, Chesterfield lacked some of their impetus going forward.

But Allen said there were no excuses, regardless of who wasn’t available for selection.

“Carter is an outstanding player on the right hand side of midfield.

“We definitely miss Carter, he makes and scores goals, he’s got pace and yes we are going to miss him.

“Binnom-Williams is also an outstanding player, he’s worked tremendously hard to get back to a better level of fitness.

“When he plays he makes things happen, we’ve also missed him.

“But this is not a time - an hour since the game finished - to look at who we missed.

“There’s no excuses, the performance was not good enough no matter who was playing.

“I expect far, far more than what I got and what we got.

“I’m not happy with that.

“I want to see my team play with passion, with flair, breaking with flair to get into the box and score goals and win football matches.

“Today we didn’t get that.”

Allen always planned to have the players in tomorrow morning, ahead of Monday’s visit to Hartlepool and says he’ll have one-to-one chats with some of his squad and consult the opinion of senior players.

But it’s not a time for the hair-dryer treatment.

“In tomorrow morning and have a think about it over the next day or so and on Monday get ready to go again,” he said.

“I’ll have a chat with them tomorrow.

“It’s not a time for hitting them with a stick, we’ll look after them.”