Introduction
• Barnet Football Club face Port Vale on Saturday at Underhill hoping to clinch their first win since a 2-0 win over Rotherham United on 12 January 2013.
• Following that memorable win at the New York Stadium the Bees lost 1-0 against Burton Albion and 2-1 against Bristol Rovers despite impressing in both matches.
• Opponents Port Vale currently sit top of Npower League Two after an impressive five game unbeaten run saw them go five points clear ahead of second placed Gillingham.
• During this run they dropped just two points when they were held to a 2-2 draw against AFC Wimbledon however they did go two goals down.
• Vale have scored 20 goals in their last ten league games with six of them coming in the past week after successive 3-0 wins over Accrington Stanley and AFC Wimbledon.
• The two sides faced each other on the opening day of the 2012/13 season with Vale coming away with a comfortable 3-0 win at Vale Park.
Team news
Barnet Football Club
• Other than Steve Kabba and Liam O’Brien Edgar Davids has a full squad to choose from after Jake Hyde and Curtis Weston returned to first-team training.
• Hyde could return after missing the defeats at Burton Albion and Bristol City with an groin injury.
• Weston could also return after missing the trip to the Memorial Stadium due to illness.
Port Vale
• Tom Pope and Lee Hughes are likely to partner each other up front for Vale but Calvin Andrew could also feature in a front three after extending his deal with the club.
• Darren Purse is also likely to feature after he, along with Hughes, was named in the Npower League Two team of the week. Purse also scored his first goal for the club last week against Accrington after joining in January.
The opposition
• Tom Pope, the top scorer in Npower League Two (25), signed a new contract on 6 February 2013.
• His contract was due to expire in the summer and despite interest from a host of clubs up and down the leagues he has extended his stay until 2015.
• Pope will be one of two inform strikers who the Bees will have to contain with January addition Lee Hughes in fine form after joining the club on a six-month deal in January.
• Manager Micky Adams is now in his second spell as Port Vale manager.
• He first joined the club for the 2009/10 season but left in December 2010 to join boyhood club Sheffield United following the departure of Gary Speed.
• Adams failed to win any games in his first three months in charge at Bramall Lane and left the club after they were relegated to League One.
• Following his departure from Sheffield United he was immediately offered a three-year contract at former club Port Vale, he accepted stating that ‘It is time to finish the job I started’.
• Adams famously placed his entire squad on the transfer list during his first spell in charge and was quoted as saying: “We looked like a woman who had a big fur coat on but underneath she’s got no knickers on.”
Background
• Barnet have faced Port Vale eleven times, they have won three and drawn three with the Staffordshire based club holding the edge with five victories.
• The first meeting between the two sides came in the 1992/93 season in Division Two. Port Vale came away with a 6-0 home win with Martin Foyle and Bernie Slaven both scoring a hat-trick.
• In the reverse fixture Vale came away victorious once more despite Barnet going into the break leading 1-0 courtesy of a Kelly Haag strike. Vale responded in the second-half to secure a 3-2 win, Paul Kerr, Ian Taylor and Foyle got the goals with Zeke Rowe scoring Barnet’s second.
• It would be almost 15-years until the two sides would meet once more and it was not worth the wait for either side as the match ended in a goalless draw.
• The Bees got their first win over Vale eight-months later on 20 February 2010 as a John O’Flynn double secured a 2-0 win at Vale Park.
Last time out
1 February 2013
Npower League Two
Bristol Rovers 2-1 Barnet
Barnet: Stack, Johnson, Stephens, Iro, Byrne, Yiadom, Oster (Kamdjo 80), Davids, Nurse, Holmes (Crawford 32), Sekajja (Allen 86).
Subs not used: Cowler, Fuller, Brown, Lee.
Goals: Crawford 90.
5 February 2013
Npower League Two
Port Vale 3-0 AFC Wimbledon
Port Vale: Neal, Purse, Duffy, Chilbers, Jones, Loft, Myrie-Williams (Birchall 79), Burgem Vincent (Andrew 79), Pope, Hughes (Williamson 62).
Subs not used: Johnson, Yates, Shuker, Morsy.
Goals: Hughes 13, Vincent 35, 75.
Previous meeting
18 August 2012 – Port Vale 3-0 Barnet
• Port Vale sealed a comfortable 3-0 win over Barnet on the opening day of the 2012/13 season. Louis Dodds volleyed Vale into a 1-0 lead after just eight minutes before Jennison Myrie-Williams dispatched a 20th minute penalty after Jon Nurse fouled Tom Pope. Nurse had the Bees’ best chance of the game but he was unable to trouble Vale keeper Chris Neal as he shot hit the side netting. Pope sealed the win with 15 minutes remaining as he stroked the ball home past Liam O’Brien.
Barnet: O’Brien, Brown (Saville 87), Kamdjo, Fortune, Lee, Abdulla (Weston 57), Yiadom, Warren, Edgar, Nurse, Holmes (Byrne 81).
Subs not used: Cowler, Fuller, Gambin, Hyde.
Goals: n/a
Port Vale: Neal, McCombe, McDonald, Duffy (Yates 67), Loft, Myrie-Williams, Shuker (Burge 79), Morsy, Dodds, Vincent (Williamson 73), Pope.
Subs not used: Johnson, Davis, Murphy, Lloyd.
Goals: Dodds 8, Myrie-Williams 20 (pen), Pope 75.
Last six meetings (League Two unless stated)
18 August 2012 – Port Vale 3-0 Barnet
10 March 2012 – Port Vale 1-2 Barnet
13 August 2011 – Barnet 1-3 Port Vale
7 May 2011 – Barnet 1-0 Port Vale
25 January 2011 – Port Vale 0-0 Barnet
20 February 2010 – Port Vale 0-2 Barnet
Overall record v Port Vale (all competitions) W 3 D 3 L 5
Referee
• Saturday’s referee will be Graham Salisbury.
• In 29 games this season Salisbury has issued 95 yellow cards and four red cards including eight bookings and two dismissals in Sheffield Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Huddersfield Town.
• The 44 year-old started refereeing in 1985, and progressed through the West Lancashire and Northern Premier Leagues to reach National List status in 1998.
• Born in Lancashire, Salisbury was promoted to the referees` list in 2001. he also officiated in the FA Vase Final in 2001.
• Salisbury will be assisted by Ian Cooper and David Rock, the fourth official will be Geoffrey Russell.
General Information
• There are severe disruptions on the London Underground this weekend so please check your route on www.tfl.gov.uk before travelling.
• The weather forecast for Saturday’s match is partly sunny with maximum temperatures reaching 8C.
• Tickets are still on sale for the game and for more information on pricing and how to book please click here.
Match sponsors
Thomas exchange
Thomas Exchange was first established in 1978 through its strong team of dealers and cashiers and is dedicated to a personal service designed to meet the needs of business and leisure travellers from its two branches, 13 Maddox Street London W1 and 48 Bishopsgate London EC2. Ali may be contacted on 020 7493 1300 and will be happy to arrange a meeting with any client who wishes to avail themselves of their unique bespoke services.
LGR
For the third time this season London Greek Radio –LGR will be dining with us and today they are proud joint sponsors of our Match Programme.
LGR are London’s only Greek and Greek Cypriot radio station and were the UK’s first ethnic radio station. They broadcast 24-hours-a-day and offer a wide selection of music, phone-ins, regular news bulletins, current affairs, as well as educational and cultural programmes to their 300,000 regular listeners. Tune in to LGR on 103.3FM or visit www.lgr.co.uk for your chance to win match day Barnet tickets.
TIMES GROUP
Our joint Programme Sponsor this afternoon and supporters of Barnet FC for many years is The Times Group Newspaper which is our local paper offering latest news within the community as well as up to date news from Underhill. The Times Series has a distribution of over 120,000 and has advertisers from local estate agents, car dealers, retailers and many more. Welcome to Andrew Goodrich and the rest of your guests. Further information about the group can be found on: www.times-series.co.uk and the advert in this programme on page 59.
The Producers of RED 2 starring Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren and Anthony Hopkins wish to dedicate today’s Match Ball to Mr Guy Barker who has recently completed work on the film. “Guy deserves an Oscar for all his hard work, but will have to make do with a signed match ball today.”
This afternoon our joint Match Ball sponsor is Kevin Hebden and his guests from Thornwood Grounds Maintenance who specialise in paving, fencing, sports pitch marking, grass and hedge cutting to domestic and commercial businesses alike throughout Essex. For further information Kevin can be contacted on 01992 576 476.
