This morning Martin Allen spoke of how his side’s preparations were going as Barnet prepare to take on Peterborough United in their first pre-season friendly at The Hive on Saturday at 15:00:
“All the players are fit and well apart from young Iffy Allen who had a collision tackle a few days ago and has a fracture of his fibia bone, in effect what you could call a broken leg in the old days. Iffy has come back in really good shape, very strong, very positive and has clearly trained through the summer.
The good news is it is only likely to be between six to eight weeks. He walked off the training pitch and it was only later in the evening where the pain really set in so sadly this weekend we are going to be without Iffy but that is our only injury.”
He also revealed that Barnet fans can look forward to seeing a few new faces in the team during the coming games, but that they would have to wait a little while longer to find out who they are:
“We’ve got a lot of players who have been training with us recently so this game is going to give me a chance to look at them and see how they do. It’s not really fair for me to say who the trialists are or who has been training with us, but it looks like we have got a centre forward lined up. We haven’t quite signed the contract but it has all been agreed verbally and we have shaken hands so when it all comes to fruition I think everyone will be pretty happy with him.
“We’ve also got another couple of players that we’re looking at that are close to signing so I’m starting to feel a little bit better about our chances for next season, but over the next few weeks everything can be revealed.”
Fans can also look forward to seeing the whole squad in action at the weekend, with Allen revealing that everybody with have a part to play:
“This Saturday we’ve got a team to play for the first 45 minutes and then another team to play for the second 45 minutes. Obviously it will be a competitive game but it is also part of our training schedule, and with another competitive game against our local rivals Stevenage on Tuesday night it is key that we get as many players as possible through 45 minutes without getting any injuries.
“All the players are in good standard and good shape. Nearly everybody has lost weight and brought their body fat percentages down, not quite everybody but those players are having to put in extra work to get into the right shape for what we need. It’s only a week in so there’s plenty of time and I’m convinced that those players will make those adjustments pretty quick.
“I look forward to seeing you all on Saturday for the start of the preparations for our new season ahead.”
