Torquay vs Barnet

[Plymouth Gull]

Losing out on £30,000 is always a disappointment, especially when there was nothing you could do about it. However, the FA Cup replay takes priority, so instead of us meeting Barnet live on the box, its been moved back to the Saturday. I suppose a good point of that is the fact that we should have a couple of hundred more through the gate, especially with all the offers the Board are doing to try to increase attendances. You can't blame them, as they've come up with plenty of ideas, Kids for a Quid, 12 for 10, and I saw a Student deal aswell, allowing students with a valid NUS card in for £6. And now we're starting to pick up form, you'd expect some supporters to start coming back.

Anyway, onto the opposition, and Barnet aren't having the best of seasons so far. They sit bottom of the league, two points adrift of safety. The Bees have the worst goal difference in the league, already conceding 16 more goals than they have scored.

LAST 5 SEASONS.

2005/06 - League 2 - 18th place - 54 points
2006/07 - League 2 - 14th place - 59 points
2007/08 - League 2 - 12th place - 60 points
2008/09 - League 2 - 17th place - 48 points
2009/10 - League 2 - 21st place - 48 points

Barnet have always been a club that are expected to get relegated, most seasons, but every seasons, they stave off that threat. A couple of midtable finishes are their highlights in the last half-decade, but last season was quite dire. Like us, they struggled for the majority of the season, and with Grimsby getting incredibly close to pulling off a great escape, Barnet defeated then-promoted Rochdale 1-0 to secure safety. That win took them above Cheltenham aswell, so it didn't look as bad as it could have been.

HEAD TO HEAD.

Torquay wins - 6 (2 in FA Cup)
Barnet wins - 10
Draws - 8

Barnet do better in this fixture than we do, as above shows. In 24 games played between the sides, Barnet have won more than we have, with 8 draws between the sides. When a Torquay fan mentions Barnet to another, they will think back to that final day game at Underhill, in 2001. I don't need to go on as we all know what happened then. I was just gutted I wasn't there to see it! In recent seasons, Barnet have been unbeaten in their last 3 visits to Plainmoor, with two draws and then they won 1-0 last season, in August.

FORM (LAST 6 GAMES)

LLWLLD

The Bees travel to Plainmoor on poor form, with one win in their last 6 games, in all competitions. It started with a 2-0 home defeat to then-strugglers Bradford, which was followed up by a defeat at Stockport. 3 points were recorded as the Bees beat Macclesfield 1-0 at Underhill. However, a trip to Shrewsbury left them emptyhanded, and then a home game against local rivals Stevenage was an embarrassing night for the hosts, as they lost 3-0. Their FA Cup draw with Charlton is quite a decent result, but they will have to travel to the Valley for the replay next week.

PROBABLE LINE-UP.

This is the line up that started against Charlton:

Jake Cole

Joe Devera
Grant Basey
Anwar Uddin
Jordan Parkes

George Francomb
Mark Bryne
Glen Southam
Mark Marshall

Kevin Gallen
Steve Kabba

Subs; Tom Coulton, Mark Hughes, Darren Dennehy, Ricky Holmes, Charlie Stimson, Clovis Kamdjo, Mauro Vilhete.

PLAYERS TO WATCH.

For me, there are two players to watch in that starting 11. Mark Marshall is an electrifying winger, who has incredible pace, so will surely need to be watched by our fullbacks, whichever one it is. Our fullbacks aren't exactly reknown for pace, so we will need to make sure we aren't caught out by the pace. Steve Kabba is a decent striker at this level. He will have to be watched aswell to make sure he can't stick the ball in the net.

PREDICTION.

I think our form has turned, our luck has changed.

3 points, an improved crowd and maybe some more atmosphere! Who knows!

Torquay 2-1 Barnet

COYY!

[Yellow4life]

Think I went for a 3-0 or 3-1 win on this one.

3 points and I'll be happy!

Attendance: 3014(half of those being students!)

[YellowMurphy]

They will be looking to park the bus, and get us on the counter, so Im guessing we will probably lose the first half, but come back stronger in the 2nd half.

Torquay 2-1 Barnet
Marshall'44
Benyon'77
Kee'90

....and hopefully a good attendance!!!

[Jeff]

I'm actually a bit glad this game got brought forward to the Saturday. A positive result against Charlton probably gave Stimson a stay of execution, and he of course has this awful record of having not won on the road since April 2009. Couple that with our improved form, and them being bottom, and I'm hopeful we can get a result out of this.

[Dave]

To be honest if this game had gone ahead on monday as planned i could see us having a gate of 1500-1600 regardless of the price changes,so with the £18K for getting through in the cup,and the likelyhood of a decent gate saturday,in a way iam glad this match is saturday.

As for the game 3.1 to us,and with December's game's looking though i think 3 points saturday is a must.

[HRG]

Don't jinx it Jeff!
But I'm feeling positive we've had a dip but didn't fall far, now we've hit another good patch which I believe will continue for at least one more week.
An overly confident and perhaps unrealistic 3-0 win for me.
Kee x2 (fingers crossed)
Zebroski

[Plymgull]

I'm feeling very positive about this game.

I'm going with...

Torquay 3-0 Barnet
Benyon x2
Kee

COYY!!!!

[JamieE]

Loving the look of their strikeforce - Steve Kabba and Kevin Gallen. Journeymen with no pace, just what Guy and Mark want to come up against.

Benyon, Zebroski, Mansell and Wroe will all start but Bucks has some nice selection problems for the other two available positions. O'Kane and Stevens came on and did well on Saturday, Kee is finding his feet, Rose has been very good since he's come in, we've yet to see the best of Hemmings, Gritton is always an option and where does Oastler fit in? Leave it to Bucks I think.

Any news on Rose's injury?

[Yellow4life]

Benyon, Zebroski, Mansell and Wroe will all start but Bucks has some nice selection problems for the other two available positions.
Any news on Rose's injury?

Zebroski is Banned for Saturday- picked up a yellow against mansfield so he misses out!

Rose is doubtful although I'm not sure what the injury is.

[ChristheGull]

Hopefully we can carry on our "run" of good form I'd be happy with that. Frustrated it's not on Sky, but that's football at the end of the day.

2-1 Torquay. Billy Kee x2

[JamieE]

Zebroski is Banned for Saturday- picked up a yellow against mansfield so he misses out!

Rose is doubtful although I'm not sure what the injury is.

Ah right, Zebroski will be a big miss. Mansell, Robertson and Benyon are all one yellow away from suspensions too!

[HRG]

Don't jinx it Jeff!
But I'm feeling positive we've had a dip but didn't fall far, now we've hit another good patch which I believe will continue for at least one more week.
An overly confident and perhaps unrealistic 3-0 win for me.
Kee x2 (fingers crossed)
Zebroski

Hmmph. Must pay attention. Switching Zebs to Benyon :Oops:

[northharrowgull]

Form books out the window, this one has history. A scrappy, bad tempered, 1-1

[Wisconsin_gull]

The boys have just started another run of clean sheets...
With Zebs out, Billys Boots will come good

3-0 Gulls (Kee 17,42,78)

[A J]

Torquay to win 2-0 - Benyon double

I remember last season at home, lost 1-0, absolutely dire!