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Forest Green Rovers Match Preview

FOREST GREEN ROVERS v BARNET FC
SATURDAY 8 FEBRUARY
3PM
THE WALL – TWITTER – FACEBOOK – VINE – INSTAGRAM
General Information
• Forest Green Rovers will hold a pitch inspection at 8.30am tomorrow morning. Please check BarnetFC.com or follow @BarnetFC prior to travelling. 
 
• The club will be sending a supporters coach to the New Lawn, information can be found by clicking here.  
• You can beat the queues on Saturday by purchasing your ticket in advance, click here to do so. 
• If you are not making the trip to Forest Green Rovers follow every kick via The Wall, Twitter or Barnet Player.
Introduction
• Ulrich Landvreugd and Dick Schreuder will take charge of their second Barnet FC match tomorrow afternoon against Forest Green Rovers. 
• Last time out the Bees returned to winning ways following a poor run of form with Mauro Vilhete netting a 94th minute winner in a 1-0 victory over Southport.
• That win came two weeks ago with last weekend’s proposed fixture against Macclesfield Town being postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. 
• Forest Green Rovers also haven’t featured since January 25th when they beat Chester 3-0 at the New Lawn.
• Prior to that win they secured an impressive 2-6 win away at Hyde FC meaning their unbeaten run currently stands at three matches. 
• That result also means Rovers beat Hyde 14-2 on aggregate this season after sealing an 8-0 win on the opening day of the Skrill Premier season. 
• Harry Crawford will not travel due to a knee injury but Marciano Mengerink could feature after returning to training following a two month spell in the treatment room.
• Barnet currently sit 10th in the Skrill Premier. They are just five points away from a play-off place with two games in hand on Nuneaton Town who occupy the final play-off spot in fifth.
• The Bees are five points clear of Forest Green Rovers but the Gloucestershire based side have two games in hand. 
Team News
Barnet Football Club
• Harry Crawford is unavailable due to injury but Marciano Mengerink could return.
• Graham Stack is still a couple of weeks away from returning so Nick Jupp will continue between the sticks.
• Luke Gambin will also miss out as he continues to monitor an ongoing knee problem. 
Forest Green Rovers
• 6ft 7ins central defender Luke Oliver could make his debut on Saturday after signing for Rovers following his Bradford City exit.  
• Rovers will be without forward Andy Mangan who had his contracted terminated two days ago following an internal investigation. 
The Opposition
• Forest Green Rovers formed in 1889 as Forest Green.
• The club is affiliated to the Gloucestershire County FA and play their home matches at The New Lawn which has a capacity of 5,017.
• In June 2011 the club began work on making the pitch at the ground the first organic football pitch in the world. 
• In April 2012 Rovers introduced the first robot lawn mower to be used by a British football club on to its playing surface, it is known as the ‘mow bot’. 
• Rovers are the longest-serving members of the Conference Premier and last season they secured their highest placed finish, tenth. 
• Forest Green Rovers are currently managed by former Gilligham central defender Adrian Pennock.
• The 42-year-old enjoyed a successful playing career with the likes of Norwich City, Molde FK (loan), Bournemouth and Gillingham. 
• During his time with Gilligham he captained the side to a play-off final win that saw the Gills promoted to the Football League First Division for the first time. 
• Pennock was forced to retire from league football in 2003 due to repeated injury but he continued playing for Gravesend & Northfleet where he was also assistant manager.
• In January 2005 Pennock was appointed manager of Conference South side Welling United and in his first season he guided them to their best league position in six years.
• He left Welling in 2007 to take up a coaching position at Stoke City with his former manager Tony Pulis.
• He left Stoke at the end of the 2012/13 season and was appointed manager of Forest Green Rovers on 12 November 2013. 
Last Time Out 
Saturday 25 January
Skrill Premier
Barnet 1-0 Southport
Barnet: Jupp, Stephens, Saville, Weston, Villa, Vilhete, Yiadom, Marsh-Brown (Abdulla 84), Byrne, Hyde (Crawford 81), Lopez (Nurse 72).
Subs not used: Casabella, Johnson. 
Goals: Vilhete 94
Satuday 25 January
Skrill Premier
Forest Green Rovers 3-0 Chester 
Forest Green Rovers: Russell, Oshodi, Turley, Binnom-Williams, Hodgkiss, Barry (Green 82), Bangura, Kelly, Norwood, Wright (Vieira 79), Hughes (Walker 86).
Subs not used: Bulman, Asafu-Adjaye.
Goals: Hughes 23, 73 & Norwood 65.
Previous Meeting
25 March 2005 – Forest Green Rovers 0-2 Barnet
• Barnet’s last trip to the New Lawn ended in victory as goals from Ben Strevens and Liam Hatch secured a 2-0 win for Paul Fairclough’s side. The Bees had to work hard for the points but they finally took the lead after 55 minutes through Strevens. Eight minutes later the points were sealed as Liam Hatch made it 2-0 to send the travelling Bees home with a smile. 
Barnet Football Club: Tynan, Hendon, Clist, Yakubu, King, Graham, Sinclair, Lee (Bailey 73), Hatch, Strevens, Grazioli. 
Subs: Gore, Batt, Charles, Roache.
Goals: Strevens 55 & Hatch 67. 
Forest Green Rovers: Lyttle (Green 84), Garner, Harris, Richardson, Davies (Davis 62), Gadsby (Rogers 56), Searle, Griffin, Beesley, McAuley, Williams.
Subs not used: Perrin, Roberts.
Goals: N/A
Background (Stats from Soccerbase)
• Barnet have faced Forest Green Rovers a total of nine times. They have emerged victorious on four occasions and lost three times with two meetings ending level.
• The first meeting between the two sides came in the Football Conference in 2001. The match ended 2-2 with Rovers twice coming from behind to snatch a point at the Lawn.
• Barnet’s first win over Rovers came on 23 November 2002 as Mark Gower and Junior Agogo scored in a 2-0 win. The reverse fixture ended 4-4. 
• The following season Barnet secured their biggest win over Rovers as Tony Taggart, Ben Strevens, Ian Hendon and a Peter Beadle double secured a 5-0 win at Underhill.
• Barnet are unbeaten against Rovers since that memorable win securing two wins and one draw in the next three meetings.
Last Six Meetings (Stats from Soccerbase)
25 March 2005 – Forest Green Rovers 0-2 Barnet
14 August 2004 – Barnet 3-1 Forest Green Rovers
27 March 2004 – Forest Green Rovers 1-1 Barnet
22 November 2003 – Barnet 5-0 Forest Green Rovers
14 January 2003 – Forest Green Rovers 4-2 Barnet
23 November 2002 – Barnet 2-0 Forest Green Rovers 
Overall record v (all competitions) W 4 D 3 L 2Â