Following two wins and two clean sheets to start the new season, Barnet take on Port Vale at Underhill this afternoon with three League Two points up for grabs. The bees will have their tails up after winning their first Carling Cup match for five years by defeating Portsmouth1-0 in midweek at Fratton Park. Last Saturday, a superb Mark Byrne strike won all three points for the Bees at Morecambe on the opening day of the season. Lawrie Sanchez’s reign at Underhill has got off to a very satisfactory start marked by the award of Performance of the week by the League Managers’ Association for the win at Portsmouth clinched by Mark Hughes’ fine headed goal. The reward for the 1-0 win is an away trip to another Championship side, this time Eddie Howe’s Burnley.
Getting back to this afternoon’s match, Barnet have no fresh injury worries ahead of today’s match which will have strong echoes of the final game of last season when Izale McLeod’s penalty that sealed a 1-0 win over Vale was enough to secure the Bees’ League Two safety. Lawrie Sanchez must decide on whether to go with the side that won at Portsmouth or restore Sam Deering to the midfield in place of Tommy Fraser.
Port Vale arrive following a 4-2 defeat at the hands of League One, Huddersfield Town in the Carling Cup and a 2-2 draw at home to Crawley Town on the opening day of the League Two campaign last Saturday.
Barnet will be looking to continue their good run of form this afternoon and it is crucial that the Bees do much better at home than they did last season. A good performance today should be enough to gain Barnet a win. The Bees’ starting side is likely to look something like the following:
Brill
Senda Uddin Kamdjo Parkes
Byrne Fraser HughesMarshall
McLeod Price
Subs: O’Brien, Cox, Deering, Holmes,Taylor