Darlington welcome Barnet to the 96.6 TFM Darlington Arena as they undertake their next festive fixture. Quakers picked up a point in their first fixture over the Christmas and New Year period thanks to a battling draw against Carlisle United. Dave Hodgson's men will now be looking to go one step further when the game kicks off and take all three points against a side who do not travel very well.

Barnet have won just twice away from Underhill in League two this season and both of those victories came in the opening month of the season. Prior to their Boxing Day clash against Peterborough the Bees had failed to record a win in their last four outings in the league however Paul Fairclough's side recorded an overdue result to ensure that both sides go into this clash with a good start already made during the festive period. Speaking after the victory over the Posh the Barnet manager admitted it wasn't a classic but felt it was a good result none the less.

"I'm not saying it was a classic but to come back and win is very good," he said. "There is no questioning the character of this group even though they may be lacking in one or two things. They didn't choke, some people get to a point and choke but we didn't. That was a very important performance, especially as we got stronger as the game went on to secure a very good three points. It's always good to win when you've worked hard on the training ground, we've been preparing well and are ready for Darlington on Wednesday."

Tonight's match against Barnet will be Darlington's second in three days but captain Matthew Clarke certainly doesn't mind rolling up his sleeves and playing a large number of fixtures in a short space of time. With a good result already behind them the team are eager for the next game to come along and build upon the result at Brunton Park.

"Even if you get beat you definitely want the next match to come quick," declared Clarke who described the game at Carlisle United as a battle. "You don't really want to wait a week. They are coming thick and fast now and the lads just really need to concentrate on getting a lot of rest, warm down properly and getting ready mentally for the next game."

Quakers will have to make at least one change from the side that drew at Carlisle United. Defender Joey Hutchinson has suffered what appears to be a serious cruciate problem in his other knee. Darlington bought on Shelton Martis to replace the defender and skipper Clarke feels that he did well however knows that the loss of Hutchinson is a blow for the team but even more so for the player himself. A good team spirit will be important for Hutchinson now to help him to a speedy recovery.

"We've got a great team spirit at the club but he's just come back from a bad injury and he has shown a lot of character already," said Clarke. "He will be a big loss for the team and even more so for himself."

With a point already in the bag manager Dave Hodgson is eyeing up a victory against Barnet. The Quakers boss set his side an ambitious target of twelve points from four games but said that following the draw against Carlisle he will settle for ten from twelve instead.

"I said twelve out of four. So at the moment we are settling for ten out of twelve by the looks of it," said Hodgson after the Carlisle draw. "I did say twelve, truthfully I did. I said we've got to go and win four games on the bounce. We could have nicked it at the end but that would have been very unjust on Simmo (Paul Simpson) and his staff had we done that. It was a hard contested performance against a side who are doing very well. We've got to take an awful lot out of that."

Whilst Darlington are suffering from the injury to Joey Hutchinson and a virus to Phil Stamp Barnet will be without Anthony Charles after the defender injured his knee against Peterborough. Meanwhile midfielder Simon Clist could be in line to make his first start since April, while Ben Strevens is also vying for a starting berth. The game against Barnet kicks off at 7.30pm tonight.

Last ten meetings

2000/01
Division 3	Barnet	3-0	Darlington	17-02-01
Division 3	Darlington	1-0	Barnet	16-09-00
1999/00
Division 3	Darlington	4-0	Barnet	07-03-00
Division 3	Barnet	1-0	Darlington	06-11-99
1998/99
Division 3	Barnet	3-0	Darlington	09-01-99
Division 3	Darlington	0-2	Barnet	08-08-98
1997/98
Division 3	Darlington	2-3	Barnet	04-04-98
Division 3	Barnet	2-0	Darlington	29-11-97
1996/97
Division 3	Barnet	0-0	Darlington	25-01-97
Division 3	Darlington	0-1	Barnet	29-10-96

Barnet's last five games