Barnet head coach Martin Allen insists his side still have scope to improve despite extending their unbeaten start to the League Two campaign to four games.

The Bees were held to a 1-1 draw by Crawley Town on Saturday after John Akinde’s third minute opener was cancelled out by Joe McNerney.

Allen’s side currently occupy eighth spot in the table and, while the Barnet boss is happy with his players’ efforts, he believes they still have more to offer.

“The group is looking good, I’m happy with how they’re playing and I’m happy with the commitment and courage that they’re showing,” he told the club website.

“We should have won that game [against Crawley] comfortably because we had lots of chances and loads of opportunities.

“There’s still a lot that we can keep improving on though, without a shadow of a doubt.”

Allen will hope to see the first signs of improvement when Barnet take on a Carlisle side who also enjoy an unbeaten record on Saturday.

Barnet will be looking to end a run of three games in a row without a win against Keith Curle’s side, and the pair played out a 0-0 draw in the corresponding fixture last year.

Jamie Stephens could be in line to make a return to action for the visit of the Blues after being named among the substitutes for the Crawley match.

Allen refused to confirm if the keeper, who made 33 appearances last season, will be available to start at the Hive, but says he is nearing full fitness.

“Jamie is doing very well,” Allen said. “He’s played one reserve game and then we had an 11 v 11 on Monday morning, for all the players that didn’t play at Crawley.

“I thought the best thing to do was to put him on the bench to whet his appetite. Jamie always works hard though and he’s close to being ready.”

The Bees’ strong start to the campaign followed on from an impressive pre-season schedule and Allen feels maintaining belief in his squad will be key to their success this season.

“It’s about keeping belief in these players – including pre-season games, I think we’ve only lost one match in quite a while now,” Allen said.

“We’ve still got to improve on that. I don’t want to accept just being an average mid-table group and I am not going to accept that.

“This group can do much, much better and we have to.”