Barnet take on Oxford United in the 1st Round of The FA Cup on Saturday with Joint Head Coach Mark Robson arguing that the Bees will put their best foot forward and resist any temptation to experiment with the line-up.
This will come as a relief to traditionalists, but perhaps not as a complete surprise since the side selected in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy against Leyton Orient was also a full-strength one.
In addition it has obviously taken the Bees some time to get into their stride this season so where would the merit be in upsetting a relatively settled side, especially one that delivered 7 points out of the last 9 on offer?
The Bees will need to keep a special look out for James Constable, the Oxford United striker. Always a Barnet nemesis, he is back scoring goals, notching his first league goal of the season last week and he has supposedly benefitted from repeated viewings of a DVD compilation of his goals from last season.
He will be coming up against a settled Barnet defence that as well as managing three consecutive clean sheets has looked increasingly assured and sound as the season has progressed.
It has been the club’s policy this season not to make public pronouncements regarding injuries in advance on the likely compositions of squads or starting line-ups and no exception is being made for The FA Cup.
However it must be hoped that Ricky Holmes, Collins John and Jack Saville are nearer a return to action than they were last week.
If you are unable to make the trip to Underhill for the game then our Barnet Player service, headed up by Karl Bates, will be providing full match commentary. The service is currently offering a free 14 day trial. Details are on barnetfc.com.
The match programme features articles from Mark Robson, Mark Byrne and Paul Fairclough, a review of Cup glories past from Reckless, picture action and reviews from Barnet’s recent matches, including Edgar David’s debut, in depths analysis of our opponents and enough statistics to impress Thomas Malthus. And much more.  All for £3.
