Barnet head coach Martin Allen has warned some of his new signings they will have to do better after the Bees comfortably overcame Hungerford Town 6-1 in their first pre-season friendly.

The Southern League Premier Division outfit were competitive but proved no match for the Akinde brothers with John – who has been joined in training by younger brother Sam this week – notching a first-half hat-trick before the younger of the two grabbed a sixth at the death.

In between Sam Togwell lobbed home from the halfway line and youth team hot-shot Matt Stevens netted with a sumptuous bicycle kick.

The game afforded Allen the opportunity to run the rule over four of his new signings – with Kevin Lisbie handed a pass for the game – and speaking afterwards he refused to get carried away in assessing their impact.

“Some of them have done all right, some of them will need to do better – there is no doubt about that,” stated Allen. “We have got good players here so some of them will need to do better. Some of them have done well, some of them will need to do better,” he repeated.

Among the new faces and those who have remained from last season were three of the eight players who have signed one-year professional deals with the Bees this week.

Ross Eames and Henry Newman’s side won the Football League Youth Alliance South East division earlier this year and playmaker Fumnaya Shomotun was one of those to catch the eye, providing the assist for John Akinde’s second.

Asked what the midfielder could add to the side, Allen replied: “We had a World Cup eight-a-side tournament on Thursday and he was the top scorer in the tournament. He has got amazing skills and he has got amazing technical skill.

“Whether he can now transfer that into men’s football at the level we are going to be playing at, only time will tell.

“If we had that Conference championship sewn up earlier last season he would have been involved toward the end of the season,” continued Allen. “It is a shame it took us so long to win the championship but of course he is one I have got my eye on. He is close, he is pushing.”

The Bees now face double sessions on Monday, Wednesday and Friday before tackling Premier League side Crystal Palace at The Hive in a week’s time.

And after three days of conditioning work, the focus shifts next week for Allen and his staff: “It has all been football work, we have hardly done any running,” he confirmed.

“Nearly all of them have come back fit so we will continue that. But for this week I can now get onto the training pitch and do my work with team play and get everybody in our squad knowing how we play and what we do with and without the ball.

“I would expect a much sharper performance against Crystal Palace,” he added.

You can read the match report from the win over the Crusaders by clicking here.