Exiles v Exiled (Newport v Barnet)

[BeesKnees]

Barnet visit a mud bath after two weeks of twiddling thumbs.
A couple of naughty challenges from Stevenage mean we have lost Togwell and Hoyte. Gash, Nelson and Stack still unfit, Yiadom suspended and both Stevens and Vilhete have been sent to Coventry. Good new is Akinde is back, but will Batt join him up front.
A win for either side would get them well away from the drop zone and allay relegation worries. It's a win a piece so far this season so this is the decider and I expect Newport will probably come out on top purely due to how poor we have been away from home.

------------- Stephens
Sesay N'Gala Dembele Johnson
--------Champion Weston
Hackett-----Randall------Gambin
----------------Akinde

 

[Brooksy]

You think your away form is bad! We have perfected the art of not being able to win at home into an art form. If we could win at home we would be midtable. One home win against Luton is all we have to show this season and it wasn't that much better in the latter half of last season.

Three home games this month for us (Barnet, Carlisle and Mansfield) and whilst not season defining, recapturing some sort of home form would be help. If we are going to turn this season around, this could be a good time to do it.

Whilst this looks the most winnable fixture in February, the way we have been playing at home I will go for a 1-1 draw. It's why I worry we will be mired up to our neck in it until the last game of the season.

 

[BeesKnees]

I just been told the game is touch and go. Looking at the weather forecast it says heavy rain from 5am so sounds like any postponement is likely to be at late notice.

 

[Brooksy]

I forgot to mention that. The forecast is crap and they keep on letting rugby teams play on the pitch. The pitch looked terrible last weekend after the rugby and it won't take too much wet weather to force a postponement. Sounds like with your injury problems, a postponement might not be a bad thing.

 

[rudebwoyben]

Looking at the way you played at Underhill, the state of the pitch really doesn't suit your playing style especially when you have quite technically proficient players such as Mark Byrne. I wasn't surprised by his goal against Blackburn Rovers in the cup as I remember he scored a few like that for us.

 

[Baz]

Strong winds and rain, not a good cocktail for RP especially with the Dragons playing on it too. Be pleasantly surprised if it goes ahead.

 

[antbfc]

Barnet visit a mud bath after two weeks of twiddling thumbs.
A couple of naughty challenges from Stevenage mean we have lost Togwell and Hoyte. Gash, Nelson and Stack still unfit, Yiadom suspended and both Stevens and Vilhete have been sent to Coventry. Good new is Akinde is back, but will Batt join him up front.
A win for either side would get them well away from the drop zone and allay relegation worries. It's a win a piece so far this season so this is the decider and I expect Newport will probably come out on top purely due to how poor we have been away from home.

------------- Stephens
Sesay N'Gala Dembele Johnson
--------Champion Weston
Hackett-----Randall------Gambin
----------------Akinde

Really like that line up, but would imagine the new RB will slot in instead of Sesay, who IMO didn't look great at RB against Stevenage. If we lined up like that i think between the front 4 there could, amazingly, be some goals in that team!

 

[BeesKnees]

Rain now forecast from Friday night, weather warnings issued and with 45mph winds at 3pm.

 

[Red Dragon]

http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/ne...h_winds_and_heavy_rain_for_Newport_and_Gwent/

 

[Urban]

There's probably no point in the team even travelling really.

 

[Brooksy]

With our threadbare squad, the last thing we need is a fixture pile-up. We ended up hiring one of those domes to keep the rain off the pitch for the Blackburn Rovers FA cup game.

I wonder how we could persuade our landlords (Newport RFC) to do one and play their rugby elsewhere! Then we would just have to ground share with the Dragons. Come to think of it, three teams share the ground so we don't do badly since they 'fixed' the drainage.

It's still better than Spytty ... our last ground.

I'll be surprised if this game is on

 

[Roger Stone]

Game off - tinpot Dave is waterlogged.

 

[Urban]

Lovely midweek trip to Wales then.

3 weeks since we'll have last played a game then... Christ, Batt might have practiced scoring in that time

 

[BeesKnees]

Lovely midweek trip to Wales then.

3 weeks since we'll have last played a game then... Christ, Batt might have practiced scoring in that time

No chance,
But hopefully they've been able to take the stabilisers off in training

 

[Brooksy]

Although it's not surprising due to the constant rain (I see the Bristol Rovers games is off too), it's frustrating.

Hopefully called off early enough before any Barnet fans have travelled.

Bugger

 

[BeesKnees]

I'd call today a result for both teams thanks to bottom 2 losing

 

[Brooksy]

I'd call today a result for both teams thanks to bottom 2 losing

Totally agree. The luxury of a Saturday not ruined by football. One of life's small pleasures.

 

[E10rifle]

3 weeks since we'll have last played a game then... Christ, Batt might have practiced scoring in that time

He'll have been a bit too busy mixing some choons on his decks to worry about developing any semblance of football technique. #bigfishlittlefishcardboardbox

 

[rudebwoyben]

He'll have been a bit too busy mixing some choons on his decks to worry about developing any semblance of football technique. #bigfishlittlefishcardboardbox

I'm intrigued. Is he a decent selector?

 

[E10rifle]

I'm intrigued. Is he a decent selector?

Lovely, lovely bloke, thick as two short planks, and absolutely zero interest in footy. The man loves three things: his little daughter, DJing and athletics. Football just pays the bills. Reason he gets so many injuries is because of his old long jumping training and the toll that took. Good 200m runner as well. He'll go into promoting his club nights once he gets binned out of the full time game.

 

[rudebwoyben]

Lovely, lovely bloke, thick as two short planks, and absolutely zero interest in footy. The man loves three things: his little daughter, DJing and athletics. Football just pays the bills. Reason he gets so many injuries is because of his old long jumping training and the toll that took. Good 200m runner as well. He'll go into promoting his club nights once he gets binned out of the full time game.

To be fair that's quite common to a lot of footballers, their dispassionate pragmatic attitude towards it. It's interesting to get a bit more background on him though and he's got a plan post-career!

 

[Brooksy]

Oi you two. aren't we supposed to be talking about a game that never took place?

P.S. Shaun Batt is nailed on to score when the fixture is re-arranged.