Barnet defender David Stephens is feeling positive ahead of the new season and thinks that the squad are developing nicely as the 2014/15 campaign draws ever closer. 

Speaking after last night’s victory over Stevenage, Stephens said:

“It was good. Obviously it was a local derby so it was good to get one over on them and it was nice to get 60 minutes in the bank, or 90 minutes for some!”

Stephens was the only Barnet player to feature for the entire game, but revealed that the decision to keep him on the pitch had not been pre-planned:

“It was just how it played out. I’m happy with that, it’s in the bank now and I can look forward to the next game.”

Stephens was part of a defence that managed to keep a clean sheet against the League Two side on Tuesday night, making a superb sliding block in the last minute, but acknowledged that much of the credit must go to the rest of the team:

“I thought we looked good going forward. John Akinde did really well today again, we know what he can do and Charlie MacDonald produced a great finish for the goal, so they are settling in nicely. It’s nice when the strikers do their thing, it helps us as we get a breather!”

Stephens also revealed that the squad had enjoyed a visit to training during the week by Gary Waddock, who guided Aldershot to a record points hall in the Conference in 2007/08:

“We are working with Gary because he’s been there and done it. He got 101 points when he got Aldershot promoted so it is nice to learn from him and take notes off him. We know last season wasn’t good enough and we lacked in certain aspects of our game.”

So far in Barnet’s first two pre-season friendlies Martin Allen has given the captain’s armband to Jack Saville, Mauro Vilhete and Elliott Johnson, but last year’s skipper is happy to see the responsibility shared with an eye towards next season:

“Whoever has the armband, it could be a midfielder, centre-half, goalkeeper, it doesn’t really matter. We want eleven captains out there.”