Barnet assistant coach Ulrich Landvreugd says it has been a good pre-season for the Bees

Barnet’s final warm-up match ended in a 2-1 defeat against Cypriot side AEL Limassol at the Hive Stadium this afternoon. 

There were positives to take despite the defeat and Landvreugd thought the Bees matched their opponents, who just missed out on reaching the Champions League group stage last season, in the first half particularly. 

He said: “They are a good side but you always have to look at your own game and the first half was quite good. We kept possession well and created a few opportunities.

“We conceded a goal from a set-piece which wasn’t good because we work on that in training. We’ll have to look at that again.

“Overall though the first half was good though and the second half was only ok. It needs to be better but we are getting there.”

He continued: “The positive thing is that 95 per cent of the squad are fit, only Stacky (Graham Stack) missed today’s match and that was because we didn’t want to risk him.

“We have played some good games against good opponents. We did well in the mid-week games against the local sides.

“In the Saturday games we have played well but didn’t get the results we wanted. Overall though it has been a good pre-season.”

It was confirmed after the defeat to Limassol that Luisma, Roberto Casabella and Marciano Mengerink had joined the club subject to international clearance.

Commenting on the signings, Landvreugd said: “The Spaniards have played at a higher level than Marciano but they had a longer holiday than the rest of the squad.

“They’ve only trained for two and a half weeks and they need three of four more weeks to be physically ready physically.”

He added: “Marciano is a rough diamond. Every year he is proving himself. At his last club nobody was looking at him but after two years he improved massively.

“That is what he is trying to do here and we want to turn a rough diamond into a polished one.”