Accrington Web - 2015/16 Prediction League; Game 33 v Barnet FC (home)

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Barnet FC

2015/16 Prediction League; Game 33 v Barnet (home)

I’m very glad I’m not a Barnet supporter; in particular, I’m very glad I’m not a Barnet supporter who travels to away games, because if I were, I’d have wasted hundreds of pounds and many days of my life which I won’t get back …………Last season, you’ll recall, they won the Conference Premier with two points a game (92/46) and a goal-difference of +48, beating Brizzle R by one point and seven goals ….this year, on the road, they’ve visited the far-flung outpost of Plymouth, Portsmouth, Carlisle and Bristol, and the near-flung outposts of Leyton Orient and the Wombles ……..and they’ve lost the lot! Played six, lost six, GF5 GA15; three times they’ve conceded two goals, and the other three times they conceded three; it’s really not what you want ….

That’s the opening paragraph from the thread when we went to the Hive on 10th October, a game we won 2-1 with a 60-somethingth minute winner from Sean McConville .................I thought, since they’re coming to our place, that you might like to know how their away form has been since then ..........and the answer is complete rubbish! They won at Oxford 3-2, and 2-0 at the Daggers; they drew 0-0 at Stevenage, 1-1 at Hartlepool and 2-2 at Yeovil; they lost 2-0 at Luton, 4-2 at Notts Co, 2-1 at Cambridge and 3-0 at Northampton ............... Overall then (away from home) they’ve P15 W2 D3 L10 GF16 GA32 for 9 points (from a possible 45, which is nearly as bad as Colchester) .................. Goals a-plenty they don’t score either; counting their 5 Cup games (since the last match between us they’ve beaten Blackpool in the 1st Round of the FA Cup and lost 0-1 at home to Newport in the 2nd) they’ve played 36 times, and in those 36 they’ve scored 45 (40 in the League) and let in 51 (46); 11 times they haven’t scored, and 11 times they’ve scored one .........we, meantime, have 53 in the “scored” column of League Two ............Leading scorers are John Akinde (once of Ebbsfleet) with 12 (and an extension to his contract), striker Michael Gash (29) with 7, and French-born defender Bira Dembele (27), once of Rennes and once of Stevenage (and I know which of those two I’d prefer), who has 4.

Michael Gash is an interesting character; his career started in 2004 at Cambridge City; then he went to Cambridge United, then to Cambridge City on loan, then he joined Cambridge City again, then he went Ebbsfleet, York, Rushden, Cambridge United (again), Braintree, Kidderminster, Kidderminster, Nuneaton, and eventually – after 11 years in the Conference – he got a League Club (who had been a Conference Club) when he signed for Barnet in August last.

Head to head is slightly ours (League only, although we did have a spell of playing them in the Cup quite a lot) ............... in the League it’s 7 wins to 4 to us, with four draws .........the last time we played at the WhamBang (which it wasn’t, then ....) we won 3-2, with a 35 minute hat-trick by Lee Molyneux and a red card for Edgar Davids (whose former employers include Inter Milan, Juventus, Ajax, Barcelona (on loan), Spurs, Palace and Barnet (which is the sublime to the ridiculous)). He gave up the Manager’s job at Underhill in early 2014, and seems to have retired fully ...2013/14 had been a problem for him (eight bookings in his first 8 games, including three red cards), so perhaps it was no great surprise ...........

Since the turn of the year they’ve released Kevin Lisbie and Tamille Roache, sold defender Hakeem Odoffin to Wolves for £undisclosed, and lost striker Aaron McLean (ex Orient, Hull, Posh, Grays, Aldershot and Bratfud), who signed last August, but who refused a new contract, preferring the balmy breezes (or do I mean “barmy” breezes) of Ebbsfleet, where he’s hit 5 in 5 so far

They’ve brought in ex Millwall MF Nicky Bailey, MK Dons MF Mark Randall and Leicester defender Alie Sesay (21), a Sierra Leone international defender; in addition, they’ve signed up Nigel Pearson’s son James Pearson, also once of Leicester, who got sacked by the Foxes for what happened on tour a few months back .....................add to them five loans, including Man City’s GK Ian Lawlor and Northampton MF Chris Hackett, and you’ve got ..........err .............. near enough a new team!

Barnet, as you’ll know, play in amber and black shirts; their away kit this season seems to be lavender hoops, lavender sleeves, white shorts and white socks, which is one step removed – just – from playing in pink .......... the amber and black (hence, you might think, “The Bees”) is actually derived (it seems) from the kit worn in the early 20th century by Barnet Alston FC (known as “The Dentals” because most of their players were attached, during the day, to a firm of dental manufacturers); they made it into the League in 1991, made it out of the League in 2001, re-appeared in 2005, this time lasting 8 years instead of ten, went out in 2013 and back in 2015; their Head of Youth Sports Science is Kostas Lofitis (bet he wasn’t born within the sound of Bow Bells!); their worst-ever League defeat was 9-1, by Posh, at home, in 1998, and their record League win is 7-0, against Blackpool in 2000 and Wycombe in 1987; Martin Allen is currently in his fourth spell as their Manager (2003, 2011, 2012 and 2014); and their training ground was opened, if you need to know this, by Fabio Cappello and Trevor Brooking in 2009!

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 27th February .............16 to play, and already 55 points in the bag, plus 2 games in hand on all three above us, and Billy Kee now on the list of League Two leading scorers with 13......... they don’t call him Billy Whizz for nothing! This is most certainly winnable, and a slip up would be unthinkable, but we have the focus, and are making and taking the chances this season (and shooting heaps more than we ever did in the past) ......53 goals in the League puts us joint second (with Oxford and Morecambe), six behind Northampton – who just won their tenth consecutive League game, and have a lead of 12 points as we speak. On Stanley on – that’s what I say!

Good luck to everyone! ............ Keep the Faith! .............. And thanks for playing!

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