Graham Westley calls Barnet’s defeat to Carlisle ‘a devastating result’

Barnet boss Graham Westley described his side’s 3-1 loss to Carlisle as “a devastating result”.

The rock-bottom Bees went ahead in the 50th minute but the away side hit back with three goals to take the win.

Ricardo Almeida Santos headed in from Ryan Watson’s corner to give Barnet the lead.

John Akinde then blazed a penalty over the bar on the hour mark and he was left to rue that miss.

In the 70th minute Ashley Nadesan lobbed Craig Ross after the Barnet goalkeeper came out to clear a loose ball but was left stranded as the striker reached the ball before him.

In the 82nd minute Hallam Hope played the ball across the face of goal to Richie Bennett, who finished from close range.

Nadesan extended the Cumbrians’ lead in the 87th minute as he flicked on Jamie Devitt’s free-kick to round off the win.

“It’s a devastating result and a devastating end to the game,” Westley said.

“We did so well for 65 minutes but the missed penalty and the goalkeeping error seemed to devastate the team and we fell to pieces after those two things happened.

“You expect to score a penalty and you don’t expect to concede a goal like that. Neither player will look back on those two moments with any sense of pride.

“When those bad things happened, we showed why we’re bottom of the league. We lost our composure, discipline and work ethic.

“We threw away three points that were there for the taking so it’s a very disappointing evening for us but we have to take the positives out of the evening.

“I feel it as hard as anyone in that dressing room or anybody in those terraces.

“Losing a match in professional football is an awful feeling to have because you feel as though your world has collapsed.”

His opposite number, Carlisle manager Keith Curle, praised the strength of his squad after his substitutes changed the game.

“Performances like that give me great competition for options for my strikers which is part of the squad mentality,” Curle said.

“We’ve got competition for places. We’ve got a small squad in numbers but we’ve got some good quality players.

“When things aren’t going your way, don’t just sit there in the stands, get behind your team because things can happen if they [the fans] back us.

“Once we got that foothold in the second half, we were rampant and goals do change games.

“The fans were very vocal today – you could only hear Carlisle fans in the stadium and that’s a message that we want to spread.

“The easy thing to do is shout ‘Curle out’ but I don’t mind the few people that do that because you know where I’ll be either in the office or the technical area and won’t hide away from it.

“I’ll do my job to the best of my ability and get this team firing.”