Neal Ardley hailed Notts County’s “breathtaking” football but admitted he had to read his players the riot act at half-time in their 4-2 win over Barnet.
The Magpies produced a devastating display of attacking football in the opening 25 minutes which saw them race into a three goal lead through Callum Roberts, Kyle Wootton and Enzio Boldewijn.
But JJ Hooper struck for the visitors on the stroke of half-time and the forward then added a second after the break to send hearts fluttering around Meadow Lane.
Michael Doyle eventually wrapped the game up in stoppage time with a cool finish after another superb attack to give Notts their second home victory in a week.
While Ardley revealed he was thrilled with the quality of their forward play, he was annoyed they had allowed Barnet back into the game when they should have been out of sight.
“We were breathtaking for 30 minutes and more than warranted to win a game of football,” he said.
“But you don’t want to know how angry I was at half-time.
“If they had got back into the game because they changed their shape or raised their levels then I would accept that to a degree because you never have 45 minutes to yourself.
“But that wasn’t the case. We got sloppy and stopped doing everything that helped us to go 3-0 up.
“We started thinking we were better than we were.
“Then we don’t defend a second phase and allow them to come right back into the game.”
