JOHNNO BUZZING FOR VISIT OF BEES
ANTHONY Johnson may not be able to guarantee that high-flying Radcliffe will scalp Barnet but promised: “We will frighten them to death.”
The NPL Premier leaders eased past fellow Step 3 side Redditch United 4-0 on Tuesday to reach the Isuzu FA Trophy fourth round for the first time and set up a mouthwatering tie at home to the Bees. Ambitious Boro’s exploits have captured the imagination, regularly drawing in crowds of more than 1,000, and joint-boss Johnson reckons a combination of a good crowd and Radcliffe’s firepower can create a bear pit for the Bees at the Neuven Stadium.
“To test ourselves against a full-time side that is going so well and has ambitions to get to the Football League presents us with a brilliant opportunity,” he told
The NLP.
“We know what we are, we have a good side and it is the type of opportunity that we have been looking forward to all season because we know what we can do.
“It will really lay down a marker in terms of how good some of the lads think they are.
“We have a very confident bunch. A lot of the players have played at a good level before, it is not a load of young lads who haven’t experienced anything like this
– lots have played up to League One and League Two, the majority have played in the National League.
“They won’t relish coming here. Our pitch is beautiful but the slope can shock you a bit.
“We are up there with the top scorers in the country and we will frighten them to death – we might not win the game but we will play with our attacking style, put it on them and see how they deal with it. “We are right by Manchester and there are some big clubs around us. With what we are providing with quality football and what it costs to watch, we are a lot of people’s second team now.
“We have a really solid core of 700-800 and the game should bring out the locals. Barnet fans might not see it as a massive game, they have bigger priorities and I understand that, but getting further than ever before and playing a side going as well as they are is really exciting.”
The draw has even inspired Johnson to think differently about the distraction of big cup ties.
“I have always been a big believer that teams at the top of leagues can be distracted by cups, especially big games against big opposition,” he said.
“That said, with us being out of the other cups we feel like it is a good distraction. It allows us a game without the pressure of the bread and butter, playing game after game, relentlessly going for three points after three points.
“We knew Redditch would be a tough game against a good side but there wasn’t much pressure, we knew we couldn’t lose anything other than being out of a cup, so it is a good distraction rather than being to the detriment of what we are trying to do.”