Confidence can be a funny thing.

Winning 3-0 at the break, Barnet were flying against Lincoln City at Underhill on Saturday and looked like a side gunning for promotion rather than battling to avoid the drop.

But that confidence started to ebb away after the break as the Bees almost contrived to throw away the game in a crazy 20-minute spell in which the Imps pulled two goals back and squandered the chance to equalise by missing a penalty.

Only when Izale McLeod steered the ball home at the back post for a killer fourth midway through the second half could the hosts breathe easily once again.

Boss Paul Fairclough said: "I want to apologise to the fans for the 20 minutes in the second half . . . the collapse was catastrophic . . . but the players showed a lot of character and determination to get back into it again. Once you are on the slippery slope, it's hard to put the brakes on."

But Fairclough certainly had nothing to apologise for in the first half.

Barnet were awesome and simply blew Lincoln away.

The Bees certainly never looked like a side that started the day rock-bottom.

Steve Kabba headed home the opener on five minutes, before converting a penalty after Jordan Parkes had been tripped in the box.

Mark Hughes then curled a beauty into the corner for a rare goal just before the interval.

"It could have been six by half-time," Fairclough added, in reference to man of the match Joe Devera twice hitting the woodwork with bullet headers and the Bees peppering the visiting goal with other efforts.

But the doubts crept in after the interval when goals from Luke Howell and Ashley Grimes six minutes after the restart hauled the Imps right back into it.

Grimes then had the chance to equalise from the spot after Anwar Uddin had fouled Adam Watts, but Barnet keeper Jake Cole dived to save his penalty.

That proved to be a big moment, with McLeod finally wrapping it up soon after.

"It was a happy day for us," Fairclough summe up. "We have not had many of those - especially at Underhill."

BARNET (4-4-2): Cole; Dunleavy, Devera, Uddin, Parkes; Deering (Adjeman-Pamboe 90), Hughes, Jarvis, Marshall; Kabba, McLeod (Stimson 85). Subs not used: O'Brien (GK), Kamdjo, Cox, Fraser, Vilhete.

Attendance: 2,226.