An irritated Dean Brennan warned his side they need to be more ruthless in front of goal after the Bees’ 2-1 National League win at home to Rochdale on Saturday.

Top scorer Nicke Kabamba put the North London outfit ahead early on after Anthony Hartigan had won the ball high up the pitch, before Ben Coker doubled the lead before half-time.

But an irked Brennan came out in full force after a sloppy second half saw the away side nearly snatch a point.

“I’ve said it so many times. 1-0 up in the last two games, at Solihull and at York - we should be two, three, four (in front),” Brennan said.

“We gave away the most stupid goal you’ve ever seen in your life. Full credit to them. They made a couple of changes. They switched their wingb-acks, they rolled in, and their tens were up in the wide areas.

“Up until that goal, we were caused not a lot of problems. We can’t keep giving away stupid goals like that. It was an absolutely poxy goal to give away. It’s horrendous.

“We had some unbelievable opportunities to make it three, and we don’t do it. So, it’ll cost us in the end. It is what it is. Our performance in the last 15 minutes is diabolical.”

Coker’s brilliantly executed finish sent Barnet into a deserved 2-0 lead at the break, although Brennan seemed flabbergasted by his side's inability to kill the game in the second period.

“First half, I thought we were excellent. We deserved to be four ahead,” he told the club website.

“At the start of the second half, they came out at us. We made a change, and you could see that Joe Rye hadn’t played for a bit and Cropper hadn’t started for a bit. Billy (Clifford) gave us loads of control in possession, and then we had a golden chance with Nicke to go and make it three and put the game to bed.

“If you don’t do that, you’ll suffer in these games. 2-0 is the most dangerous scoreline in football. If you get it, it’s game over. If they get it, it’s game on. You could see that some of our heads dropped because of the confidence in the last two games.

“We ground it out in the end, but Lady Luck was on our side."

And Brennan’s cry for better game management continued throughout his post-match interview.

“Certain players never stayed composed," he added.

"They were just making crazy errors. Clearing the ball up the pitch when we’re trying to be more defensive and solid, running out into different slots, and, realistically, they should have gotten an equaliser.

“Did they deserve it over 90 minutes? I wouldn’t have said so. I thought we were the stronger team.”

Brennan’s attention now switches to a tough away trip to League One Exeter in the FA Cup first round on Saturday before the club's National League campaign continues a week later at home to Oldham Athletic.