Martin Allen says that he cannot wait for tomorrow’s game, as Barnet well Grimsby Town in a top-of-the-table clash at The Hive.

Speaking ahead of the game, the manager revealed that it had been a productive week following last weekend’s defeat to Wrexham, and that he had virtually a fully fit squad to choose from for the visit of the Mariners on Saturday:

“We had a bit of work to do to review the Wrexham game – what we did well and what we didn’t do so well but that has probably been the pattern right from day one.

“Yids has been away with England and he scored so that was good news for him and of course our club. I contacted him straight after the game and he is fine. Everybody else is fit and well.

“Keanu Marsh-Brown has got a virus so he hasn’t been training with us this week but apart from that everybody is fine.”

Martin will be without the division’s top scorer for the first time this season as John Akinde sits out the game through suspension, but he is confident that new signing Michael Gash can more than fill the big striker’s boots should he make his first start for the Bees tomorrow:

“John has done fantastically well – he has had a great season – but there is no problem with him not playing as we have got a good player to come in his place.

“We’ve brought Gash in to play that role. He has had to train and do extra work and he has lost a lot of weight. Everybody wants him to do well as he is a great lad as well.

“But it is going to be a team game. It would have been a team game with John playing and it will be a team game without John playing. Everyone plays their role and everybody in my mind is just as good as each other.”

Having been beaten by Grimsby up at Blundell Park just four weeks ago Martin says he is looking forward to the chance to make amends at The Hive tomorrow:

“A month ago we played up there and it was a fantastic atmosphere. All of their supporters were full-on right from the first minute that we walked through the door. But we have been up against that with opposition crowds from day one, being top of the league since August.

“They beat us good and proper up there, it was a hard day, a tough day. And now we have got to get back on it. If we had won the other day we would have been seven points clear and now we’re only four, so we have got to keep going.

“We are top goal scorers in the whole country so we are doing OK. The last three games we have picked up six points so we are ticking along nicely. There is certainly room for improvement – there is no doubt about that, but things are coming along nicely.

“We have dealt with that pressure and intensity from the opposition really, really well. The three defeats that we have had away from home are obviously a concern and something that we have got to look at, but this is what it is going to be like right through until the end of the season.

“We’ve got good players, we have got great support and a great atmosphere here and these are exciting times. I can’t wait for the game.”

To watch the full itnerview with Martin, simply log in to Barnet Player here.