Chesterfield's 'quality' was the 'difference' in win against Barnet, says Dean Brennan

The Spireites beat the Bees 2-0 at The Hive on Tuesday night with goals in each half from Michael Jacobs and Will Grigg. The victory sent the Blues 23 points clear at the top with 11 games remaining. They just need 11 more points to secure promotion.

Brennan said: “I thought the players gave everything. We never stopped going. We gave it our all. We had our chances but we were beaten by a team with a little bit more quality. When you are playing the top team, you have to take them.

"We just lacked quality in the top end of the pitch today. We didn’t have enough quality and when we did we didn’t take them. And when they (Chesterfield) did they took them and that is the difference. That is why they are 23 points clear ahead of us.

"The pressure has been on them (Chesterfield) to win the division since the start of the season and the manager has done a fantastic job. I’m sure he said when he first went in there that it would take him a couple of years to get them sorted and get them to where they need to go. They are a different football club, a different animal, they shop in a different market. I think they are a fantastic side, they have got some brilliant players, and when it came to the quality they had that on the night.”

Barnet were missing some key players including top scorer Nicke Kabamba but Brennan is hoping to have some of them back sooner rather than later.

He explained: “We have got too many players in the treatment room, the ones that give us quality, and that is the frustrating bit. We are hoping to have everyone back for the last five or six games. The fixtures have come thick and fast for us in this period, I am delighted with the points return in this period, if we can sort of stay on that points return I will be happy with that until we get everybody back. The squad players have got to step up and tonight they were short.”