Barnet battle pleases Hemel Hempstead boss Allinson
Lee Allinson was pleased with what he saw from his Hemel Hempstead Town side as they opened pre-season with a 2-2 draw at home to Barnet as the teams shared the Spencer McCall Invitational Trophy on Saturday.
Darion Dowrich grabbed the opener early on for Hemel before Barnet turned things around before the break thanks to strikes from Anthony Hartigan and Rhys Browne.
But Millar Matthews’ late curler brought the scores level to leave Allinson upbeat as he spoke to the club’s media after the game.
He said: “A massive thank you to Dean Brennan who brought two very strong sides here today – he’s a fantastic manager who sees growth from starting here to where he is now as a Football League manager and credit to him and his team.
"I thought it was a brilliant exercise considering we haven’t worked on any shape, crossing, finishing etc. I thought there were some really good signs there – in the first-half we were really solid in our shape and whilst we’ve got things to work on, I see some really good signs.
"There was much more pace, power and rawness in the second-half and when the game got open we were very dangerous which was pleasing to see.
"I thought that all the boys that have come into the football club showed real glimpses of quality today and we’re going to have a serious headache [in terms of selection] when you think Jermaine Anderson was just managing his workload, Jake Gray was away, Charlie Rowan pulled a calf in the warm-up and Trey Cook is a little bit away as well.
"But it’s so early on in pre-season and nothing is won or lost. It’s minutes in the bank, looking at structures, looking at performances and on the whole I think it was a really positive afternoon.”
Hemel host St Ives Town on Saturday before travelling to St Neots Town next Tuesday night.