By Nathan Jackson
February 12 2006

It's that special time of year again, where you can tell your partner exactly how you feel about them....by watching football. City travel to Barnet on Valentines day, exactly a month after beating them 4-1 at Sincil Bank and a win would see the Imps move up to a minimum of 8th.

City could easily the end this next week within the playoffs and a victory on Tuesday night would guarantee at least 8th place going into the weekends game and if results go perfectly for the Imps. City are just 1 point behind 4 teams who are all on 46 and all 4 of those teams face each other on Tuesday night.

On a day that is tradionally where millions of men worldwide tell their partners (see, we're politically correct here) how they truly feel about them and this Valentines' Day, a lot of men will tell their partners exactly how they feel by going to a football match.

Interestingly, both sides are actually unbeaten since City thrashed Barnet at Sincil Bank a month ago.

If Keith continues to start Ollie Ryan, then I won't bother turning up until the 72nd minute when Gary Birch comes on and changes the game. However, Birch should start in place of the youngster after doing more in 20 minutes that the other strikers did in 90 against Torquay. If Steve Robinson has recovered from the flu that kept him out of the weekend's win over the Gulls, then he'll more than likely start in the midfield with Kerr and either Nat Brown or Lee Frecklington. There shouldn't be any major surprises with team selection.

Who I think will start (Right to left)

Marriott

Cryan   McCombe    McAuley   Hughes

S/Robinson   Kerr     Brown

Yeo  Birch  Gritton

 

Barnet have only played twice since their hammering at Sincil Bank 4 weeks ago. They drew 0-0 with Wycombe but beat Shrewsbury 1-0 and those 2 results, combined with a few games in hand now mean that Barnet's relegation straight back to the Conference looks highly unlikely. In recent weeks, they've also done a few things to try and secure their league status, mainly bringing in former Cambridge defender and Lemar wannabe, Stev Angus, who spent most of last season on loan to Scunthorpe as he helped them gain promotion.

Barnet's main tactic is bullying the opposition and how the Imps escaped the game against the Bees without an injury is something that only a doctor could tell you. Much like the Imps, they also use a mix of on the ground and in the air football, however, unlike the Imps, Barnet don't have the players to accomodate this tactic and they are often left open to the counter attack.