Barnet boss John Still was full of praise for his players’ performance in their opening day draw at Aldershot Town on Saturday.

The Bees were unfortunate not to christen the new National League season with all three points having hit the post and bar three times, and after seeing as many opportunities cleared off the line in a dominant display in Hampshire.

But they had to make do with a frustrating 0-0 stalemate with Still keen to emphasise that the positive performance outweighs the result, particularly with the campaign in its infancy.

“I thought first half we were good, I thought second half we were outstanding,” Still told the club’s website.

“I think we hit the woodwork three times, I think we had three off the line. I thought our movement and our organisation out of possession to get the ball back was first class.

“I could say I’m disappointed not to win, but the performance was outstanding – we didn’t have a bad performer today.

“I was very pleased with our performance, very pleased with the way we’ve approached the game as the away team. We’ve tried to attack.”

After a pre-season campaign that was typified more by Barnet’s wastefulness in front of goal, another blank would ordinarily provide some cause for concern.

In this instance, however, Still was philosophical in his post-match comments and acknowledged that, on another day, his side would have ran out comfortable winners, again playing down the significance of reading too much into pre-season results.

He was also keen to praise the collective team performance as Barnet coped well in the absence of Andre Boucaud and new club captain Callum Reynolds, who both missed the game through injury.

“Pre-season games can be very misleading if I’m honest. You look for fitness, you look for organisation, and I saw those things, but today I saw a lot of quality, I saw a great energy in our play,” Still said.

“We’ve got two good players missing, Andre and Callum, which is a blow, but it happens. First game of the season you would like to have everyone to pick from but when I take that into account, the people that came in did well – they all contributed brilliantly.”

The Bees had a further injury scare before a ball was kicked as Dave Tarpey was a late withdrawal from the squad, something Still said was a precautionary measure as he returns from a long-term knee injury.

“He’s done lots of training but he [Tarpey] just felt his knee a touch. At this stage of the season we thought it best to say no and a doctor will have a look. It might be nothing, but I didn’t want to take any chances,” Still said.

The timeframe for a return for Boucaud and Reynolds, meanwhile, is not clear with Still hinting that the former could be out for a while yet while his skipper is very much day-to-day in his recovery.

“It’s really weird. It’s one of those things, it’s improving but slowly,” said Still when asked about the condition of his absentees.

“All we’re doing is all the things we would normally do. Andre’s improving but we’ve got a little way to go with that I think.”