Charlie MacDonald says that spirits in the Barnet camp are high as the players prepare for the season run-in starting with the visit of Woking to The Hive on Saturday.
Speaking ahead of the game, the Bees’ captain did admit that the postponement against Halifax last time out had come as a disappointment but that his side were now raring to take on The Cardinals this weekend:
“We had focused all week on how we wanted to play, our game plan, our formation, how we would approach the game. We worked really hard all week so to travel all that way, prepare properly and then wake up the next morning to find out the game was postponed was a bit of a blow as the boys were eager to get out there and perform and get a good result against a good side.
“We have got that Halifax game to put in somewhere but now we look ahead to the Woking game.”
The skipper has scored three goals in his last four home games, but says that he is relishing the extra competition for places that has come with the arrival of striker Michael Gash during the transfer window:
“He’s a great addition to the squad. He has fit in really well, he’s a good lad and liked amongst all the boys so I think it’s a really shrewd signing from the gaffer.
“He is a big, strong, physical presence. Sometimes if you need to go more direct in games or you need to stick another man up if big John is getting outnumbered, Gash is the sort of player who can put his body about, unsettle defenders, cause havoc and his goal scoring at this level is pretty good.
“In a successful team you need that competition for places. You need to keep players hungry, you can’t afford to have any complacency because someone is there chomping at the bit for your shirt and that’s how it should be at any level.
“I play a lot better when I’ve got somebody trying to take my shirt off of me because you have no room to just relax and go through the motions. You need to perform week in and week out and the other lads know what they need to do to keep in a winning side at the moment.”
And as Barnet prepare to head into the final third of the season with a seven point lead at the top of the table, Charlie says that spirits could not be higher as the players look to round off the campaign in style:
“I wake up in the morning and I can’t wait to come to training. Playing under the gaffer there is always that unpredictability when you don’t know what you are going to get. Here you need to expect the unexpected and that’s the beauty of it and everybody is reading off the same hymn sheet and going in the right direction.
“There’s not a day that has gone past that I am not laughing in training and that’s a good thing. If you have players laughing and smiling in training you know the players are enjoying their work. The spirit we have got in this squad comes from the gaffer. Everyone is buzzing to be together.
“There are two and a bit months to go until the end of the season, everybody is excited and that is how it should be. We have been top of this league for months now. To be where we are after 32 games, the league doesn’t lie.
“We have won more games than anybody else and scored more goals than anyone else – it is about time we look forward and forget what is behind us. We know if we go about our business and get our job done then it doesn’t matter what everyone else does.”
