Martin Allen believes that these are ‘exciting times’ for Barnet, with the club sitting top of the Vanarama Conference table ahead of the visit of Alfreton Town to The Hive on Saturday.

Speaking ahead of the game against the Reds, who currently find themselves bottom of the league having failed to take a point from their first six matches of the season, the manager admitted that he did have a few injury concerns:

“We have doubts over Mauro Vilhete, Sam Muggleton and Keanu Marsh-Brown. Mauro and Sam picked up their injuries during the win over Southport, while Keanu has a thigh problem that he sustained during the friendly at Luton on Tuesday.”

The manager did however reveal that he would be including one of Barnet’s many young exciting talents in the matchday squad for the very first time:

“I have added 16-year-old Mathew Stevens to the squad who has been scoring goals for fun for the Youth Team and scored again in the reserve game on Tuesday up at Kenilworth Road.

“Everybody else is fit and well and looking forward to a very exciting week and maintaining the very high standards that we have set ourselves.”

Finally, Martin added that he was looking forward to Saturday’s game and the chance to see The Hive buzzing again as Barnet look to maintain their position as league leaders:

“There was an amazing atmosphere at our last home game. All of the supporters and the players are most definitely putting a real effort in and these are exciting times. I am expecting a big crowd on Saturday for what is, without a shadow of a doubt, a very exciting time for all of us.”