Despite suffering a 2-1 defeat to Fleetwood Town, Mark Robson hopes his Barnet side remain positive after the Bees ten men battled well without reward at Highbury.

Barnet had gone ahead through Jake Hyde but a 22nd minute foul by Graham Stack on David Ball saw the Bees goalkeeper sent off. From the resulting penalty, Ball fired into the bottom corner.

The Bees batted for an hour with ten men until their resistance was broken. Tom Barkhuizen flicked a header goalwards and substitute keeper Sam Cowler was unable to keep the ball out.

It was a disappointing result for Robson’s side who showed plenty of spirit and determination in defence.

Reflecting on the match, the Barnet boss said: “I’ve said to the boys that we shouldn’t take the result as a negative. We came into the game today and the players were very confident.

“We started well and got the goal and I felt it was going to be out day. Of course, going down to ten men is tough to take.

“But I’ve said to the players that we have to take the performance as a positive. It was a great battling display; we kept them at bay for a long time but have unfortunately conceded.

“They are disappointed to lose a game which we thought at the start that we could win.”

In the build up to Fleetwood’s penalty there was a debatable call on whether Ball was onside when he received the pass.

“If he was offside it would’ve been a free kick to us and Stacky wouldn’t have been sent off,” Robson stated. “But I can’t say whether it was or is wasn’t offside.

“He has brought him down and it was a goalscoring opportunity. So it was a red card but if he was offside then it wouldn’t have happened in the first place.”

The travelling Barnet fans certainly made themselves heard at Highbury and Robson admitted they are “key” for the team.

He added: “The supporters are key for us. They were really, really good all game. We are all in this together and I’m as disappointed as they are at the moment with the amount of points we have on the table.

“But I never shy away from things, I never have and I never will. I am desperate to make things happen here and turn it around.

“We were just unfortunate that we had a man sent off after 24 minutes, if it isn’t one thing then it is another.”