OPPONENTS: Barnet Football Club.
MANAGER: Kevin Nugent.
NICKNAME: The Bees
LEAGUE POSITION: 11th.
THE JOURNEY: Fratton Park to The Hive – Around 90 Miles (2 hours in the car).
LAST TIME OUT
* Pompey made it 2 wins in 3 days thanks to a determined 2-0 win against Blackpool, with Gareth Evans and Eoin Doyle scoring.
* Barnet ended a run of 5 games without a win when they overcame Morecambe thanks to a sole goal by Tom Champion.
* It was a rout when Barnet came to Fratton back in September. Former Blue John Akinde game the Bees the lead, but goals from Chaplin, Roberts, Baker, Lalkovic and Rose. Pompey even had a penalty saved when Dembele hauled Chaplin down (for which he got sent off)
POMPEY STATS
* Pompey have had more shots per game than any other team in League 2 (14.6)
* Pompey have conceded less shots per game than any other team in England (7.07)
* Pompey have won more corners per game than any other team in League 2 (6.47)
* Pompey have conceded less corners per game than any other team in England (3.1)
* Top Scorers: Chaplin (7) Roberts (7) Baker (6).
BARNET STATS
* Barnet have only won 1 home game since November, a 1-0 victory over Plymouth.
* John Akinde has scored more goals (20) than the rest of the current Barnet squad COMBINED.
* The Bees have failed to score more than one goal in 8 of their last 9 games.
* Appointed on Wednesday, this will be Kevin Nugent’s first game in charge of Barnet after Rossi Eames stepped down as interim manager.
* John Akinde (20) Bira Dembele (4) Curtis Weston (3)
HEAD TO HEAD (Courtesy of Pompeyrama.com)
* Pompey and Barnet have only met 3 times in their League history with Pompey winning 2 and losing 1.
* They also met in the FA Cup in 1991 where Pompey won 5-0 and in the JPT in 2011 where Barnet were victorious.
* Last season’s meeting at The Hive Stadium finished 1-0 to the hosts, no surprises that John Akinde scored the only goal from the penalty spot.
PLAYED FOR US/PLAYED FOR ‘THEM’
* John Akinde: Plenty to be said about him, another one of those players who never hit the heights at Fratton Park, failing to score in his 11 appearances.
* Jamal Lowe will be returning to his old stomping as the Pompey starlet started his career with Barnet. He made 15 appearances as a teenager but failed to find the net before being loaned out.
* Pompey’s back-up ‘keeper Liam O’Brien also spent a few years at Barnet. He made 23 appearances before being released in May 2013.
ONE TO WATCH
* John Akinde – the easiest decision this season. Never got a decent run in blue, but he has been nothing short of lethal for Barnet. The 27 year old scored 33 goals in his first season there, winning the Conference Premier Golden Boot. Last season he scored 24 goals, the third highest in League 2 and is already on 20 goals this season and running away with another Golden Boot – one for each foot. A far cry from the guy who scored 3 goals in 85 games between 2009 and 2013.
PREDICTION
* Despite winning on Tuesday, Barnet have been poor since the turn of the year, whilst Pompey haven’t won away from home since Boxing Day’s comeback against Newport. If we can play with the heart and spirit we did against Blackpool, this should be 3 points. Defensively, we have to keep Akinde quiet, if we can manage that, our job gets a lot easier. I’m punting for a classic 1-0 away victory.
PUP
Written by PompeyFrippy and originally posted in the forum.
The views within this article are the views of the individual who wrote and submitted this piece, sometimes solely theirs. They are not necessarily shared by the Vital Pompey Site Journalists.
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2016-17 Prediction League – February
Barnet (a) – Saturday 18th February – click here.
Carlisle (a) – Saturday 25th February – click here.
Morecambe (h) – Tuesday 28th February – click here.
