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MATCH PREVIEW: Notts County

Last updated : 27 August 2009 By Jaybee
Barnet entertain League Two leaders, Notts County at Underhill this Saturday. County have started the season with three wins and just the one defeat, last week, at Chesterfield. County have made a number of headlines this season with eye catching signings and the arrival of former England and Manchester City boss, Sven Goran Erikson as director of football, but this week they shocked everyone with their signing of former England, Arsenal and Tottenham centre back, Sol Campbell. Campbell has played 73 times for England, many of his appearances coming under the management of Erikson. Campbell was a free agent after his contract ended at Portsmouth and had been linked with Aston Villa. It is thought unlikely that Campbell will play at Underhill on Saturday.

Barnet have a poor record against Notts County and the only time they have beaten them in the league was in 2006 when two Ian Hendon penalties against his old club gave the Bees a vital 2-1 win at Underhill. The Bees also won a JPT match at Meadow Lane in 2007 through a Tresor Kandol goal. The win was notable as it is the only JPT match the Bees have yet won.

Notts County were relegated to the fourth tier of the football league in 2004 and since then they have failed to achieve a top half finish in any season. In their first season in League Two, 2004/05, they struggled only finishing 15th. In 2005/06, they were in danger of going down to the Conference until the last day of the season, as were Barnet, but finished 21st just three points clear of relegation.

The following season, 2006/07, County had a better time finishing 13th, one place above the Bees but in 2007/08 they finished 21st again just six points clear of relegation. Last season was also disappointing for the Magpies as they finished 19th.

With the club now being backed up with a great deal of money, especially for this level, the Magpies' fans will be expecting a great deal better this term. The summer period has seen the club make a large number of new signings. One of the most notable was Kasper Schmeichel who arrived for a reputed £1m. from Manchester City. The club have also signed a number of good players from the lower divisions including midfielders, Johnnie Jackson from Colchester and Ricky Ravenhill from Darlington, plus strikers Luke Rodgers from Yeovil, who is well known to Barnet fans from Conference days when he was at Shrewsbury and former 'bad boy' Lee Hughes from Oldham Athletic.

Probably the most notable signing though for Bees' fans was that of Neal Bishop who left Underhill to go to County having initially agreed to sign a new contract with Ian Hendon. Bish joined Barnet in the summer of 2007 from York City and quickly became a favourite with the Underhill crowd. Last season, he was appointed captain at Barnet and many Barnet fans will have been sad to have seen him leave this summer. Hopefully, he will get a warm reception on Saturday.

Two consecutive wins have done a lot to lift the confidence of the Barnet players and have lifted the club up to 7th, a play-off place. After last season's dreadful start when it took them six matches to get as much as a point, this season 's start has been the best since 2005/06 when the Bees were top of League Two after four matches.

Barnet's injury problems seem to be clearing up and most of the squad should be fit to play on Saturday. Gary Breen who has not yet played a game this season could be fit to return in defence, while Joe Devera and Daniel Leach are both fit again after missing the Torquay match though injury. Kenny Gillet, who also missed last Saturday's game, was due to return to training today (Thursday).

However, Clovis Kamdjo and Ahmed Deen both played well at Plainmoor and manager, Ian Hendon will have to make some tough decisions as to who starts in the back four for the Bees against County. One player certain to start is Barnet's impressive new young right back, Ryan O'Neill who seems to cement his place at right back more each match.

Meanwhile, up front, last season's top scorer, John O'Flynn was on the bench last Saturday having missed the start of the season and could make his first start of the season against County, though Jake Hyde has done very well in his place since arriving from Swindon Town in the summer. New goalkeeper, Will Viner is expected to get a place on the bench after signing this week following a successful trail period during the summer.

For our visitors, experienced centre back, Graeme Lee who signed in the summer from Bradford City will miss the match at Barnet through injury and midfield player, John Thompson is also likely to miss the game with a hamstring injury. As mentioned above, Sol Campbell is unlikely to be risked on Saturday as he is not yet match fit having missed the usual pre-season preparations.

Last Saturday, Barnet Mad predicted a 1-1 draw and the Bees went and won 1-0! That ended a run of three matches where we predicted the correct outcomes, if not the actual scores. The Bees will have to be at their best on Saturday if they are going to get something from the game and we are going to predict a 2-2 draw on Saturday and expect a similar game to the Shrewsbury match.