MATCH PREVIEW: Northampton

Back to league matters, last Saturday's late 1-0 win over Notts County took the Bees up to 4^th place in the table. Heady heights indeed. Barnet now have 10 points from 5 games. Last season after five games, the Bees had no points at all. How things change.

Northampton also came through their 1^st round JPT tie this week winning on penalties at Wycombe after the match had finished 2-2. Ryan Gilligan and Steve Guinan scored the goals for the Cobblers. In League Two, Northampton have had a mixed start to the season and are currently place 12^th with 7 points from 5 games so far. They started the season with a disappointing goalless draw at home to Macclesfield Town and then lost 1-0 at Chesterfield. Their first win of the season came at Accrington where they won 3-0 with goals from Guinan, Akinfenwa and McKay. Akinfenwa and Marshall scored in a 2-0 win at home to Bournemouth but last Saturday, the cobblers lost 3-2 at new boys, Burton Albion. In the Carling Cup, Northampton lost in the 1^st round, 2-0 at Southampton.

The Cobblers were relegated from League One last season having been promoted from League Two in 2006. In their first season in League One they finished 14^th and improved on that in 2007/08 by finishing 9^th but failed to maintain their consolidation by getting relegated last season.

There have been quite a lot of comings and goings at Sixfields during the summer with manager, Stuart Gray looking to rebuild the squad in order to make a push for promotion back to League Ones as early as possible. The club have signed a number of experienced defenders including Craig Hinton from Bristol Rovers, former Manchester United and Blackburn player, John Curtis, Chris McCready from Crewe and ex Hereford man, Dean Beckwith. They have also signed young Arsenal starlet, Paul Rodgers.

In midfield, Gray has brought in loan signings, Luke Boden and Romone Rose from Sheffield Wednesday and QPR, while up front Gary Mulligan has arrived from Gillingham and the experienced Steve Guinan, who Barnet fans will remember from Conference clashes with Hereford, has joined from Cheltenham. Gray has also brought in young Billy McKay from Leicester City.

The last time that Barnet played at Sixfields was in their first away match following promotion from the Conference in a match where the floodlights failed and the Bees won their first League Two match 2-1 with goals from Dean Sinclair and Nicky Bailey. Nearly three years ago, a Jason Puncheon inspired Barnet won 4-1 at Underhill in a 2^nd round FA Cup Tie. It was the first time that the Bees had beaten another league club in the FA Cup since 1990 when they beat…… Northampton!

Back to the present and the Bees have almost a clean bill of health following the news that Kenny Gillet should be fit for the match at Sixfields and that manager Ian Hendon, a former Cobbler himself, is hoping that Daniel Leach will also be available for selection after missing Tuesday's win over Millwall. With Clovis Kamdjo and Ahmed Deen, who has signed a new two year contract with the Bees this week, having performed so well in the last couple of weeks, Hendon has a difficult, if nice, selection problem again at the back. What a change from this time last year. Gary Breen is still out.

In midfield, captain Micah Hyde should return after being rested on Tuesday with Nicky Deverdics missing out and Hendon will have to choose between Yannick Bolasie and Albert Jarrett on the left. Up front, Jake Hyde's fourth goal of the season on Tuesday could mean a start for him at the expense of John O'Flynn who still looks a couple of weeks away from the sharpness of last season.

For Northampton, Adebayo Akinfenwa is expected to return up front following a shin injury but Billy McKay is unavailable as he is on international duty with the Northern Ireland under 21 side.

After such a good run as Barnet have been on, it is tempting to predict another win for them but the match at Sixfields could be a tricky one and Barnet Mad predicts a 1-1 draw.