Friday 2nd September

Cheltenham Town v Barnet

The Robins

League Position - 5th

Points - 10

Current Sequence - WDDWDD

Colours - Red and White

Ground - Whaddon Road

Capacity - 7,407

Highest attendance this season - 3,274

Lowest attendance this season - 2,113 (Carling Cup)

WARNING!!!!  DARREN DEADMAN WILL BE THE REFEREE TOMORROW NIGHT - THEREFORE THERE IS A 99% CHANCE OF THIS MATCH BEING RUINED BY MATCH OFFICIALS!!!

The Bees

The bank holiday weekend is now over and Barnet have come away from it with 0 points out of a possible 6.  This was somewhat unexpected and has demonstrated that this league will not be a walk in the park.  

• Firstly the home loss to Grimsby - An awful result and a lacklustre Bees performance.  For all their pressure the lads came away with nothing.  Grimsby were not a good footballing side but they did what they came to do.  They got a lucky break with their goal coming immediately after the break but they did defend well for the full 90 minutes.  Barnet really struggled to break Grimsby down who stuck everyone behind the ball during Bees attacks.  The performance was really an opposite to what we have already seen this season and showed that we are not invincible and that we can and will be beaten.  Credit to Grimsby for their defensive performance.  It wasn't pretty but they managed to keep a very good attacking side out and left Underhill victorious.

• Now for the loss to Wrexham away.  A long trip to Wales on Bank Holiday Monday proved too much for Barnet who were unable to make it an England victory prior to the International this weekend.  The Bees lost 3-1 with captain Hendo scoring the solitary Barnet goal, converting a penalty just before half time.  Wrexham took the lead and then added a 2nd before Hendon pulled one back for the Bees.  This brought Barnet back into the game, however poor finishing in front of goal and a third goal for The Red Dragons ensured Wrexham all 3 points.  

Hopefully this weekend was just a blip to the Bees fine unbeaten start.  Barnet have dropped down to 7th and now sit behind Cheltenham on goal difference.

Liam Hatch (ankle), Simon Clist (Groins) and Jason Norville (hamstring) will all be out however Ismail Yakubu should return following his recent absence.

Cheltenham

The Robins go into this weeks game as one of only 3 teams without a loss so far this term.  At home the fans have seen wins against Bury and Boston and against Brentford in the Carling Cup.  Visitors Leyton Orient managed a 1-1 draw on their trip to Whaddon Road.  

Away from home Cheltenham are yet to record a win.  Excellent draws though against Macclesfield, Rochdale and Wycombe have seen them secure three valuable points on their travels.

Cheltenham have been on fire in front of goal scored a total of 11 goals in 4 home games.  Most notable were the 5 against League 1 leaders Brentford and 3 against Boston.  At the other end, they have conceded only 2 thus far.  They have only failed to score in 1 game and that was away to league favourites Wycombe.

The goals seem to be going in from all angles and from a host of players.  Grant McCann, John Melligan, Kayode Odejayi, Damian Spencer and long serving Jamie Victory have all notched 2-a-piece this season.

The Match

The Bees need to get back to winning ways now after a poor showing over the bank holiday however i would be happy with a point.  A Friday night trip will not make it easy for Barnet let alone going to Cheltenham's fortress, Whaddon Road.  The Robins have performed well at home so far and this will certainly be no different.  4-5-1 should be the formation of choice for Fairclough but the players will have to take their chances this time round.  We cannot afford to waste opportunities, as they will certainly be harder to come by against some of the better teams in this division.    

Weather - It's going to be sunny, although not that sunny as it's an evening kick off

Prediction - Cheltenham Town 1 - 1 Barnet