Barnet 2-1 Forest Green Rovers

Martin Allen extended his unbeaten start to three games in his fourth spell in charge after Barnet defeat Forest Green Rovers at home this afternoon.

The win helps Barnet massively in their quest for the play-offs, with the added bonus for the side being that it effectively knocks their visitors today out of the race.

Valentin Gjokaj gave The Bees a first-half lead, which was cancelled out by James Norwood's tap-in after an hour.

However, Mark Byrne's late strike was enough to give Barnet all three points.

here were two changes to the Barnet side that drew 1-1 away to Cambridge United last Saturday.

Elliott Johnson returned from injury to replace the suspended Curtis Weston, while Graham Stack came back from suspension to captain the side in place of Nicky Jupp.

Barnet's first chance of the game fell to the talismanic Jake Hyde after 18 minutes, whose fantastic attempted lob following Jon Nurse's quick thrown-in, which was met by an equally good tip over the bar from the visitor's goalkeeper Sam Russell.

From the resulting corner the Bees took the lead. Keanu Marsh-Brown's floated corner into the box was met by a thumping header from centre-back Gjokaj, with this being his first goal in professional football.

After half-an-hour, Forest Green forced their first opportunity. A lapse in concentration allowed Yann Klukowski, but his snapshot volley went wide of the goal.

In the next 10 minutes, Marsh-Brown had two great chances to double his side's lead.

His first effort was superbly pushed wide by Russell after Hyde slipped him through; with this being followed up by a low shot flashing wide after an incisive counter attack.

With half-time approaching, the away side almost snatched an equaliser. Klukowski volleyed a cross into box, finding Lee Hughes, who had his first-time effort phenomenally pushed away by Stack.

With an hour gone, Forest Green levelled the scores. Al Bangura's long ball found Klukowski, whose cross found the unmarked Norwood who bundled home past Stack.

From this point, the game became an end-to-end affair with a flurry of chances for both teams.

Al Bangura lashed his long-range effort narrowly wide, while Bradley Jordan swerved an effort agonisingly past Stack's goal moments later.

The intuitive Marsh-Brown was involved heavily today, having a couple of efforts to restore the lead.

He had a 35-yard effort which stung the palms of Russell; then he collected the ball from an incredible long-throw from Sam Muggleton, but no-one was able to latch onto his shot-cum-cross.

After 79 minutes, Allen's side took the lead in a pulsating match. Marsh-Brown burst down the wing and his cross was met by a fantastic, deft volley by Byrne, with it angling into the bottom right-hand corner.

The visitors had one final opportunity five minutes before the end. Anthony Barry raced through on goal, but Stack saved his effort, resulting in the ball ricocheting around the box before being cleared.

The win lifts Barnet up to eight in the table, three points behind Halifax Town in the final play-off spot.

Barnet: Stack; Yiadom, Stephens, Gjokaj, Johnson (Muggleton); Marsh-Brown, Byrne, Harper, Vilhete; Nurse (Abdulla), Hyde (Saville).