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Preview | Havant & Waterlooville (h)

The Bees will be hoping to climb back up the table when they return to action tomorrow night.

John Still’s men will go into the game off the back of a 1-1 draw at home to Fylde at the weekend. Shaq Coulthirst opened the scoring for the hosts on 20 minutes after slotting the ball home from 20 yards out before Daniel Philliskirk headed in the equaliser five minutes later.

Attentions now turn to tomorrow night where The Bees welcome Havant & Waterlooville as they aim to clinch their third win in five games.

Last Meeting:

The Last time these two sides met was just under 17 years ago in the FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round where Barnet came out on top, winning 3-0 in a replay after the original tie ended 1-1.

Striker Wayne Purser netted a hat-trick inside the opening four minutes of the game to ensure the Bees went through to the First Round Proper where they were knocked out by Carlisle.

Manager: Lee Bradbury

Lee Bradbury was appointed Havant & Waterlooville manager back in October 2012. Despite suffering National League South relegation heartbreak in 2016, he then went on to steer his side to back-to-back promotions, reaching England’s fifth tier from the Isthmian League.

The 43-year-old began his managerial career at Bournemouth in 2011, taking over from Eddie Howe who left for Burnley. During his debut season in the dug-out, he managed to guide The Cherries to a League One play-off finish but lost out on promotion at the hands of Huddersfield. Bradbury lasted 14 months before he was sacked at the back end of his second campaign in charge.

Before arriving at The Hawks, he was at Portsmouth, coaching the club’s under-14s.

As a player, Bradbury began his career at Pompey and went on to play for the likes of Manchester City, where he became their record signing at the time, Crystal Palace and Oxford United. He hung up his boots at Bournemouth, where he made over 100 appearances, a day after being named manager of the club.

One to Watch: Nicke Kabamba

Forward Nicke Kabamba joined the Hawks in the summer after his contract at Portsmouth expired and has hit the ground running ever since.

Featuring in every game for Havant so far this season, the 25-year-old has already bagged five goals, becoming the club’s current top scorer.

It’s safe to say Kabamba is hungry for goals this year and will be hoping to use his current side as a platform in his quest to return to the Football League.

In the meantime, his focus is on Havant and he will be aiming to maintain his prolific form when he walks out onto the Barnet turf tomorrow night.

Recent Form:

Sitting in 21st, Havant go into tomorrow’s game off the back of a 1-1 draw away at ten-men Ebbsfleet United. Aaron Cosgrave gave the visitors an early lead with just two minutes on the clock before it was cancelled out by Michael Cheek 25 minutes later. A second yellow card was shown to Ebbsfleet defender Kenny Clark but The Hawks couldn’t take advantage of the extra man and settled for a draw.

It has been a difficult start to the season for the newly-promoted side who find themselves in the relegation zone. In their last five games, Havant have only managed to pick up one win whilst suffering three defeats before the points were shared on Saturday. A 2-1 home loss to Hartlepool was quickly forgotten about after they beat Aldershot by the same score-line four days later. However, a 3-2 defeat to Harrogate soon followed before falling to another loss at home to Sutton before their trip to Ebbsfleet at the weekend.

After watching 25 goals rustle the back of their net so far this season, Bradbury’s side have conceded the most goals in the division.

As for their away form, The Hawks have only managed to clinch one win and one draw whilst falling to defeats in their other four outings.

Last 5 games: LWLLD

Connections:

Craig Robson began his career at Havant & Waterlooville after progressing through the academy before leaving for Australian outfit Sorrento in 2011.

Byron Harrison also began his career in Hampshire and made 20 appearances in one year at the club before leaving to sign for Worthing ahead of the 2006-07 campaign.

Hawks forward Alfie Pavey spent a month on loan at Barnet in 2014 and went on to make three appearances for the club during our Conference title winning season.

Similarly to Pavey, Ibra Sekajja also spent a month on loan with the Bees. After signing in January 2013 from Crystal Palace, he went on to make four appearances in a Barnet shirt.

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