By Nathan Jackson
January 14 2010

Lincoln City head into an away game at Barnet with the strange feeling of being the form team. Barnet's last League win was way back in October and with City now on a massive one game winning streak (sarcasm fully intended), this could be an excellent chance to pick up three well needed points. With it looking pretty certain that our game against Barnet will go ahead, the Imps can look forward to an away League match for the first time since a 0-0 draw at Crewe on December 5^th. Infact, City have played just twice in the League since then with differing results and performances. The 3-1 defeat at home to Rochdale was arguably the best example of a home team defending all match and trying to get a sneaky goal, we got that goal early in the first half and yet showed not more attacking intent for the rest of the match.

The other match was an excellent display against Chesterfield in which a 2-1 scoreline didn't reflect City's general dominance of the game. It was arguably the best performance that City have produced under Sutton, meaning that City will go into the game against Barnet with a relative degree of confidence, although it might not be a game for a purists as City have only got in a handful of actual training sessions in recent weeks, whereas Barnet probably haven't had much more luck finding regular training.

There have been quite a lot of changes with the Imps since that game against Chester. Khano Smith, Anthony Pulis and Sergio Torres have all left the club via one method or another, whereas Richard Butcher, Aaron Brown and Sam Clucas have all almost certainly played their last games for the club. On the other hand, Adam Watts have joined permanently from Fulham, joined by Joe Anderson, another defender who's joined from the Cottagers. However, they weren't the only ones arriving from Fulham as Matt Saunders and Michael Uwezu have also joined on loan. There are also rumours going around that the Imps have signed Clark Keltie, a midfielder, however, these rumours have come from unproven and/or often unreliable sources.

It now means that the Imps have a massive squad, so much to the point where Saunders is wearing 39. Infact, if you add all the starting numbers for the game against Bolton, you get to a whopping 216, that includes Rob Burch (number 1), Paul Green (number 2) and Moses Swaibu (number 5). However, having a massive squad isn't a bad thing given that City have twelve games between now and the end of February, with next week being the last time until March that City don't have a midweek game.

Guessing a starting line up with Chris Sutton is like trying to guess the lottery, it's a pure gamble. Only once has he named an unchanged team and given Lenell John-Lewis' pathetic and lazy performance against Bolton, you can't see the same side starting line up.

Infact, the defence is probably the only place that will stay exactly the same, with Green, Swaibu, Watts and Anderson all playing in front of Burch in goal. The midfield could depend on whether Keltie has indeed signed, if he hasn't then it'd hardly be a surprise to see the same midfield that started again Bolton, with Kerr, Herd, Hughton and Saunders in the middle of the park.

Then you get to the attack. If Sutton picks John-Lewis then he needs his head looking at. The other three realistic candidates are Uwezu, Gilmour and Facey. Facey did score and play well against Chesterfield, but has otherwise put in three very poor performances in an Imps shirt, but Gilmour has only produced five shots in two months at the club. Sutton could easily go with Uwezu as there was an option to make his loan permanent. I'd guess at Uwezu and Facey up front.

Thinking back to the first day, I'd go as far as saying Barnet were one of the best sides to visit Sincil Bank this season, and the Imps were very fortunate to record a victory. It didn't take long for Barnet to show that they were a half-decent team as they went top after a 3-1 win at Northampton at the beginning of September, however, their form since then has resembled that of when they got relegated in 2001.

They've only record three League wins since that game at Northampton, with two of those coming against the current bottom two at home. They haven't won in the League since October 24^th, so the Imps are strangely going into the game as the form team, something we haven't been able to say that often this season.

As mentioned before, this resembles the run that got them relegated in 2001. They had enjoyed a fine start to the season and were destroying teams for fun, including a massive 7-0 win at home to a Blackpool side that went up via the Playoffs that year, that came just two weeks after Barnet had come from 3-0 down to beat the Imps 4-3 at Underhill. That 7-0 win left them 8^th in the table and primed for a strike on the Playoffs with six and a bit months of the season left......that time period produced just five more wins and they lost 3-2 at home to Barnet on the final day to confirm relegation.

Imps go into Barnet game as the "form team"

Discussion started by theimps.tk (IP Logged), 14/01/2010 10:44

theimps.tk
14/01/2010 10:44

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grimsbyimp
14/01/2010 10:48

yes lets get a run going,
a chance for our first double of the season

We all dream of a team of Musselwhites.

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StratfordImp
14/01/2010 12:58

Barnet looked very handy in August, especially Jarrett on the wing, Green will need some assistance from Hughton if he plays.

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mightyimp1
14/01/2010 14:48

barnet only lost one game at home all season and they play at home to the lowest away scorers in the league, they'll fancy their chances



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:01:14:14:49:01 by mightyimp1.

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londonimp
14/01/2010 15:44

If you stop Barnets wingers you stop Barnet

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grimsbyimp
14/01/2010 16:27

yes and green is expeianced if he plays so if we can stop him no reason why we cant get a win, i'll go for a draw

We all dream of a team of Musselwhites.

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I Blame Paul Mayo
14/01/2010 16:31

A bonus for us is that Bolasie has gone back to Plymouth, so that is one major threat gone.

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Normanstanley
14/01/2010 18:18

Barnet are red hot favourites for this in my opinion.

I for one am a little disappointed that are foray in the transfer market has led to facy and a couple of inexperienced loanees.

Good to see Wright and co thought are taking are potential relegation seriously though by pulling out all the stops

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