Dario Gradi says he is expecting another difficult encounter against Barnet this weekend. The Alex narrowly defeated Ian Hendon's Bees by a 2-1 margain just before Christmas with Joel Grant and Clayton Donaldson both on target at Underhill.
Barnet were in the midst of a poor run of form when Crewe arrived in London and a run of 12 games without a win saw them plummet down the division after a promising start to the campaign. Their start had seen them in the top six for the first few months.
Barnet recently bounced back with a surprising 2-0 away win at our near neighbours Port Vale and held in-form Bury to a goalless draw last weekend. Having had Barnet watched again, Dario knows his team cannot afford to underestimate the Bees, who could well welcome back veteran striker Paul Furlong back from a recent eye injury.
Dario told crewealex.net: "Barnet are like any other team in this division. They will be well organised, have decent players and be difficult to beat. They will come to our place looking to get something and we will have to play to our strengthens to make sure we win the game.
"There are no easy games at this level. The only easy game I have ever since taking over is the first half against Darlington when we went 3-0 up. It wasn't easy in the second half because they regrouped and made things difficult for us. We didn't score again.
"They are all very difficult. It ended up being comfortable at Cheltenham but that was only because we scored goals towards the end of the game. Lincoln rarely attacked us either at home or away and that makes it difficult.
"They hardly attacked us on Saturday but took the lead and only a good save from Steve Phillips prevented it from going 2-0 at a crucial time. That would have sunk us.
"All the games rest on small incidents. If Lincoln go 2-0 up then is there any way back for us? If Matt Tootle scores with the final touch of the ball against Chesterfield then we have a point. It is always a thin dividing line and we have to play well to win games at this level."
