Barratt honoured to play for England C in International Trophy final against Slovakia

Photo: David Loveday

SAM Barratt has said it was an honour to be called up and play for England C in last week’s International Challenge Trophy Final against Slovakia.

England lost the match 4-1 and Barratt was sacrificed at half-time for tactical reasons, but that couldn’t completely sour the occasion for the former Bracknell Town player, who said the experience had whetted his appetite to play at a higher level.

England’s Non League side competed well in the early stages in Zilinia, and Barratt had a shot which forced the Slovakian keeper into a good save, but, after falling behind slightly against the run of play, their chances of victory were dealt an even bigger blow when centre half Andrew Cartwright was sent off before the break.

Barratt said that Slovakia ran riot after the break and admitted it was a frustrating watch from the bench.

Barratt was also given a watching brief for Maidenhead United’s 3-0 home defeat to Gateshead on Saturday, but he said the frustration would drive him and his teammates on in their next game at Woking on Saturday.

“It was a good experience and it felt great to be told you’re starting for your country,” he said.

“The red card changed the way the game was going and it was disappointing to be sacrificed for tactical reasons. But it was an honour to start the game and represent my country.

“Before the sending off I think we had more of the chances. There was everything to play for and I felt that their goal came a little against the run of play. We were in contention but the red card before half-time changed everything.

“We then conceded two goals early in the second half and they ran riot a bit after that.”

He added: “We were told the day before who was starting so we could practise our set pieces and who to mark,” he said. “But they then sent out a completely different team to the one we’d been analysing so that was a bit of a curve ball.

“They had a lot of seriously good players.

“It was a new experience for me. I’d never even been away on a club tour before. We were well looked after and it was great to spend time with the lads as well. It was completely different to what I’ve done before and was a good idea of what it might be like to play at a higher level, which is where we all want to get to.”

Reflecting on Saturday’s disappointment against Gates-head, which Barratt watched from the bench, he said: “The gaffer rested me because I’d had a hard week.

“Everyone knows that we could have done better on the pitch.

“It was frustrating to watch but we’re going to have little blips like this from time to time and we’ll probably have more games like that as well.

“But we also need to show the character to turn it around. We want to do that in the next game at Woking and if we can get a result there it would be good.

“The disappointment will drive us on for the next game. We need to make sure we do better to turn things around and make sure that we stay in and around the play-offs.”