Barnet travel to the Prostar Stadium tomorrow to play Shrewsbury Town in a League Two match where the Bees will be hoping to build on the 1-0 home win over Macclesfield Town last Saturday. The injury situation at Underhill is much the same as last Saturday with the exception that striker, Charlie Taylor has returned to full time training this week and could be in line for a place in the squad. At least there are no further injuries at the club; last Saturday’s game was the first this season in which manager, Mark Stimson has been able to report that the Bees haven’t suffered any injuries.
Last Saturday’s win took the Bees above Northampton Town and out of the bottom two and level on points with Lincoln City. Mark Stimson is likely to name a similar side to the one that started against Macclesfield Town but may choose to give experienced striker, Kevin Gallen a full debut to play alongside Mauro Vilhete up front. This would probably mean Mark Byrne moving back into central midfield after having played just behind Vilhete in the last two matches. This would be a bit of a shame as Byrne has looked much more comfortable in this advanced role and has scored goals in both matches, making him the joint leading scorer for the Bees this season. His match winner against the Silkmen was one of the best goals at Underhill this season so far. However, Stimson may feel that Gallen’s experience will be more important against promotion challengers, Shrewsbury at their own ground.
If Gallen does play this is likely to result in George Francomb moving to right back after having played at right midfield in the last two weeks. Francomb gave a very assured performance against Macclesfield and has been the provider for Mark Byrne’s two goals in the last two games. Joe Devera, who is struggling somewhat this season, could be the mean to lose out from the re-shuffle. The Barnet side tomorrow could look something like this:
Cole
Francomb Kamdjo Uddin Parkes
Hughes Byrne Southam Marshall
Gallen Vilhete
Shrewsbury could be without former Hereford and Watford winger, Lionel Ainsworth as well as Welsh under 19 international striker, Tom Bradshaw. The Shrews went down 4-3 at leaders, Chesterfield last Saturday, but almost snatched appoint after a stirring comeback from 4-0 down. The Shrews currently occupy 5th place, in the play-off slot. Shrewsbury are unbeaten at home so far in the league this season.
Last Saturday’s win was a shot in the arm for the Bees, but Mark Stimson’s boys will do very well indeed to get anything at all from tomorrow’s visit to Shropshire and with so many key players out of the side, the Bees will do very well indeed to come back with a point but if they show the kind of spirit that they showed against Macclesfield then who knows, Barnet may just manage a point tomorrow.