Match Reaction: Staines Town 0 – 2 Barnet

Martin Allen has revealed that he was pleased to round off a good week for the Bees with a 2-0 win against Staines Town.

Barnet have already beaten Cheshunt and Ipswich Town this pre-season, and completed a hat trick of victories with an impressive showing at Wheatsheaf Park.

Looking back on the game, Martin said:

“It was a very good performance.

“We limited Staines to one shot and the youngsters that I put in today played very well.

“I brought some senior players on for the second half too, just to top up their minutes.

“There were no injuries, it was a good result and a very good performance overall.”

The Bees manager was full of praise for goal scorer and new recruit Ryan Watson, saying:

“Ryan’s is a good player so I’m not surprised by his recent performances, but he is impressive.

“He’s going to add goals to our tally, there’s no doubt about that.

“He can pass it well, he’s got an eye for goal, he’s young and has a good attitude.

“So I’m delighted by him so far.”

Martin also reflected on two clean sheets in the last two matches:

“We defended deeply in that last 20 minutes against Ipswich Town – we defended our final third very well, especially with a lot of young lads playing,” he said.

“We came to Staines this weekend to win and to get three victories in a week.

“We thought we could do it and we changed the team around to get some of the younger players involved.

“I’ve got to say that it has been a good week for us.

“All the players have all worked really hard so far and it’s been a tough pre-season.

“Now they need to be off for a couple of days, rested and well looked after.

“They need to recharge their batteries so that we can get back to working hard on Tuesday.”

Barnet midfielder Curtis Weston was also pleased with the Bees showing against Staines Town:

“It was a good run out on a nice pitch and Staines are a good outfit,” he said.

“I thought it was a good workout for the boys and they did really well.

“We try and keep possession in all of our games – we played a lot of short passes today, but also tried to mix it up with some balls in behind.

“Ryan Watson has showed good quality in training and obviously in the games as well.

“He can finish, he can play and he gets stuck in, so I really like what I’ve seen of him.

“The youngsters at full back looked good against Staines too.

“Tom Day’s been training with the senior team for a little while now and he’s done really well.

“Joe Payne came in today and looked solid in his first game – he’s a good player.

“Even though it’s pre-season we still want to keep clean sheets.

“We’ve done that in our last two games and even the goal against Cheshunt was probably down to our own mistakes.

“So I think we’ve done really well to keep the goals down.”