Tomorrow, Barnet are at home to Darlington in the 1st round of the FA Cup. The two sides met a fortnight ago, at Underhill, in League Two with the Bees winning 3-0 with goals from Ismail Yakubu, Nicky Deverdics and Yannick Bolasie.
Since then, the Bees have lost a close match at Chesterfield, 1-0 and Darlington have lost 2-1 away at Hereford with loan signing, James Collins scoring their goal. Barnet have slipped out of the play-off places and are now 8th, while Darlington remain rooted to the bottom of the table.
The result at Underhill two weeks ago flattered barnet who probably deserved to win in the end but the fact is that for an hour you would have been hard pushed to know who were the team challenging for the play-offs and which was the one at the bottom of the table. Darlington could have easily have been 1-0 or even 2-0 up at half time but for a fine performance by Jake Cole in the Barnet goal and some rather poor finishing.
Scoring has been Darlington’s problem as they have only managed 7 goals in 15 league games this season. Defensively to they have problems having conceded 26 goals and they have only managed a single point in 8 away league matches.
Of course, the magic of the FA Cup is that it often throws up unexpected results and the Bees will have to be careful that they are not over confident tomorrow in a match that promises to be quite close.
Darlington have a number of injury problems. Centre back, Ian Miller who was injured at Barnet a fortnight ago will miss the match along with strikers, Noel Whelan and Lee Thorpe. Midfield player, Gary Smith may return though he still has a stiff knee. New French signing, Mor Diop is still short of match fitness and is likely to start on the bench, while young midfield player, Nathan Mulligan is cup tied having played for non-league, Norton in the qualifying rounds. However, manager, Steve Staunton has gained permission for all of his loaned players to play in the FA Cup for Darlington.
Meanwhile, Barnet duo, Ahmed Deen and Albert Jarrett have been called up by Sierra Leone for an international friendly against Holland next week. Yannick Bolasie has been given permission by Plymouth Argyle to play in the FA Cup for the Bees. Joe Devera and Ryan O’Neill both have knocks and may have to have late tests.
On paper, Barnet should win tomorrow’s game comfortably, but as the previous match against Darlington showed, no match is easy. However, it would very disappointing if the Bees failed to win tomorrow, but it could well be a very close game and Barnet Mad are going for a tight 2-1 home win.
