Barnet boss Dean Brennan is expecting to be without a number of players when they welcome Yeovil Town to The Hive tomorrow.
The manager was not giving away an names when he spoke ahead of the National League fixture, but he did speak (repeatedly) about his frustration at the capacity of the club’s treatment room.
He said described his players resilience to injury as “rubbish” which is something the Yeovil Town squad can relate too from last season.
Brennan said: “I can’t have this amount of players in the treatment room, it just can’t go on and we need to find a solution quickly.
“The recovery and where we are getting injuries is something we have to look at.
“In 11 years in management I have never known anything like this and, as a club, we need to change this.”
Despite this apparent issue, the Bees go in to the weekend off the back of decent run of three wins in their last five National League fixtures.
Their 2-1 win at Maidenhead United last weekend puts them eighth in the form table over the last six matches, with Yeovil in 11th having picked up nine points from a possible nine.
The wins including a 6-0 spanking of bottom club Dover and an impressive home win over high-flying Boreham Wood albeit they lost last time out on home soil going down 2-0 against Woking.
Prior to that run, the Bees had picked up just one win since the start of December with a run of eight defeats and four draws which began when Adi Yussuf’s early goal saw them go down 1-0 at Huish Park on December 11.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.
Ephron Mason-Clark, who was red carded for a headbutt in the closing stages of that match, is a man in form.
He scored the winner in the 1-0 win over Boreham Wood and was outstanding against Maidenhead last weekend.
Adam Marriott, who missed the defeat at Huish Park to attend the birth of his child, was on the scoresheet last weekend and has six goals in his last ten outings.
He scored a late equaliser for King’s Lynn Town as they nicked a point off Yeovil on the opening day of the 2020-21 season.
FROM THE MANAGER
Bees’ boss Dean Brennan is still expecting a tough game from Yeovil Town even after the departure of his “good friend” Darren Sarll from the Huish Park hot-seat.
Speaking ahead of the game, he said: “They like to play a diamond and 4-4-2 in recent weeks.
“They have loads of pace and creativity in midfield, experience with (Luke) Wilkinson at the back who is a good organiser and Charlie Lee who has stepped in knows this level inside out.
“So we are still expecting a very tough game, they have good players and have done very well with everything that is going on in the background of their club this year.”
TEAM NEWS
Despite the best efforts of the interviewer for the Barnet YouTube channel, boss Dean Brennan was not giving away any details about which members of his squad he is expecting to be without.
But, as you can read above, the fact he will not be able to field the same time he did seven days ago is a cause of great annoyance.
Winger Ephron Mason-Clark and midfielder Sam Beard both appeared as substitutes for England C in their 4-0 defeat to their Wales counterparts in midweek.
A FOOT IN BOTH CAMPS
The last connection between these two clubs that we can think of, former Glovers’ youth team product Mitch Brundle left the Bees by mutual consent in January.
The midfielder has linked up with Southern League side Farnborough so, as far as we can tell, there’s no-one in the either squad with a foot in both camps.
If we’re not allowed to have Jordan Barnett as a connection, then a few other players who have a foot in both camps include:
- Mitch Brundle – Yeovil Town (2012-13), Barnet (2021-22)
- Scott Loach – Yeovil Town (2015), Barnet (2019-2021)
- Ben Nugent – Yeovil Town (2014-15), Barnet (2020-21)
- Sam Hoskins – Yeovil Town (2013-2015), Barnet – loan (2014)
- Keanu Marsh-Brown – Yeovil Town (2012-13), Barnet (2013-15)
- Iffy Allen – Barnet (2012-15), Yeovil Town (2015-16)
- Dean Parrett – Yeovil Town (2012), Barnet (2020-21)
- Bondz N’Gala – Yeovil Town (2011-12), Barnet(2014-16)
- Izale McLeod – Barnet (2010-2012), Yeovil Town (2016)
- Sam Cowler – Yeovil Town – loan (2012), Barnet (2012-13, 2014-15)
- Giuliano Grazioli – Yeovil Town (1995), Barnet (2003-2008)