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Shrewsbury Town! Come on down! Seven (S-E-V-E-N) unbeaten now, five of which have been wins and three of those in a row (something we haven't done since the end of 2001/2002) the club and its fans is on the crest of a wave in fourth place behind Saturday's opponents, Shrewsbury.

Of all the games we've played this season this must rank amongst the toughest. An ex-league team with the second best striker in the Conference who have made light work of most of their opponents. They also have a very big support behind them too (averaging 3,715) and it almost certain that an intimidating atmosphere will be created.

That said, the Barnet fans will definitely contribute to the atmosphere with some brilliant singing performances over the last few weeks especially this Tuesday just gone at Margate where Barnet recorded a sixth victory of the season with a solitary Guiliano Grazioli goal giving the Bees a pretty much deserved three points. Shrewsbury also recorded a win on Tuesday over the underachieving Halifax and leave the Shrews with the same record as Barnet, i.e. W 6, D 3, L 1 with only Goal Difference keeping them above us.

Luke Rodgers has now found his feet it would seem and has notched seven of his eight goals in the last four games. The Shrewsbury side is full of recognisable names, Sam Aiston, a lethal left winger came from Sunderland after a loan spell and is one of the crowd favourites at Gay Meadow. Steve Jagielka (not to be confused with younger brother Phil of Sheffield United and England U-21 fame) joined the club from Stoke in 1997 and has regained his form this season having missed a lot of the Shrews' relegation season. They along with goalkeeper Ian Dunbavin, Colin Cramb and Martin O'Connor will be the players to look out for.

As I have mentioned this will be an extremely tough test for Barnet, one which we will not be too disappointed to fail, but if we can take three points from this, then the mood around Underhill will be sky high.

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Ground
Gay Meadow
Capacity
8,000
Manager
Jimmy Quinn
Chairman
Roland Wycherly
2002/2003 Position
24th in Division Three

 

They themselves have not lost in five games (three wins) and their only defeat was at Chester where they were defeated by a late goal in front of 4,665 (of which a staggering 1,800 were Shrewsbury fans) Luke Rodgers has just got into his stride after a slow start but now takes his place second in the Conference scoring charts behind our very own Guiliano Grazioli.

It's my first visit to Gay Meadow but the two sides have met many a time in the league with a large percentage of the meetings ending as stalemates. It will be interesting to visit a ground with character which is something which is gradually fading out of football.

Barnet will need to be on top of their game to get something out of this.

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LWWDDW

It's a half covered away end so it better not rain!

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17°C - 62°F