Barnet were comfortably beaten 3-0 by Northampton Town on Tuesday, as goals from Andy Williams, Sam Hoskins, and Billy Waters consigned them to a second successive pre-season defeat.

They trailed 2-0 at the break but Bees manager John Still was quick to play down the significance of the result, instead choosing to focus on an improved second half showing from his side.

“I don’t think we were good first half, I thought we were a bit slow,” Still told the club website.

“We had to make a couple of defensive changes that we didn’t intend to with Cheye [Alexander] not being fit, Craig Robson not being fit, and Callum [Reynolds] not being fit, so I thought we were a little bit unbalanced defensively.

“I thought we adjusted to that, I felt this was going to be a more realistic game and it was. Second half I thought we were very, very good. They had one shot in the second half and, to be fair to [Joe] Payne, he just came on and got caught out.”

The lack of goals, however, during pre-season arguably ranks as the most pressing concern ahead of their final two warm-up games.

Barnet have now failed to score in four of their six pre-season matches and while Still was keen to stress the high calibre of the opposition they have faced, addressing a lack of clinical finishing unsurprisingly factors in as a priority.

“We haven’t scored nowhere near enough goals in the games that we’ve played,” Still said.

“We’ve played quality opposition, we haven’t played teams from lower down the scale where we can perhaps go and field [a side] other than a young team. Every game has been a test and to be honest, I prefer that.

“If players are fit and organised, that’s what I think is the most important thing. We have players that have a pedigree of scoring with [Dave] Tarpey and even with Josh Walker, who I think has been excellent.”

The 68-year-old did however allude to the character his players have repeatedly shown to respond from setbacks and playing from behind, but refused to be drawn on when Bees fans can expect to see a new striker put pen to paper.

“We are in the process at the moment of adding a forward that we’ve been trying to do for some time, so I wouldn’t say that I’m overly concerned about it,” said Still.

“I think the thing that I am overly concerned about is we’ve rectified games when things haven’t been so good, and today when we came in we had a little talk about the organisation of it and just tinkered with it a touch.”

It is our understanding the club are currently pursuing moves for up to two players, and the hope is that at least one of those new arrivals will be through the door in time for Barnet’s season opener at Aldershot Town on August 4.