A disillusioned Dean Brennan labelled his Barnet side’s performance in a shock 4-0 home defeat to Solihull Moors as ‘the worst of the season’ on Saturday.

The Bees saw their dream of promotion to the Football League shattered as they succumbed to an early wave of pressure from the visitors in their National League play-off semi-final and never recovered.

Early strikes from James Clarke and Jack Stevens paired with second-half goals from former Wealdstone forward Tahvon Campbell and Joe Sbarra inflicted a biggest defeat of the season on the Bees at the worst possible time.

“We gave away terrible goals. We served up probably our worst performance of the season,” Brennan told the club website.

“Full credit to the opposition, though. I want to congratulate them, they were clinical with their first two efforts on our goal in the back of our net.

"We had the first great chance of the game. Ade [Oluwo] has got a header six yards out, he has to score.

"At 2-0, Nicke [Kabamba] has got a volley, and he’s got to score as well. We’re in the first half, there’s two chances for both teams, and we find ourselves 2-0 down.

"Full credit goes to them in the second half as they countered on us again, which we spoke about all week and watched, worked on, and coached.”

As Brennan went on to list the games in which his side hasn’t performed in recent times, the Irishman hinted at how the evolution of his squad will manifest itself in the new campaign.

“When it comes to the big games, we’ve come up short,” he added.

“That’s Newport here, Boreham Wood was here last year. Gateshead away from last year. Chesterfield away when we were dominant in the first half earlier in the season.

"I know what needs to happen now, so we’ll start building on the new team for the 2024/25 season and we’ll start that from tomorrow.”

The Bees created a host of chances in the first half, which should have seen them draw level on two separate occasions, leaving Brennan to rue the missed opportunities to find a way back into the tie.

“It’s a lack of quality in front of goal. Ade’s got a glorious chance, Nicke’s got a glorious chance. You have to score in these big games. Goals change games,” he said.

“Their first entry into our box - header, goal. Second entry from a defensive goal kick, Croppsy [Jordan Cropper] is not on the cover, Danny [Collinge] gets bullied off. Left foot, great finish, and we’re 2-0 down.

"Goals change games and we gave them a lift. They came to play on the counter-attack and we were sloppy. We were poor and looked nervous, and we’ve come up short.”

Solihull Moors will play Bromley in the final at Wembley, while Brennan is left with food for thought over the summer, starting with the construction of his squad as they target promotion for a third consecutive season.