Barrow will make a trip to Wham Stadium on Tuesday, to lock horns with Accrington Stanley in their opening game of the EFL Trophy campaign.
Having floundered in the previous edition of the EFL Trophy, Barrow will be looking to enjoy a better run this time around, starting with victory in their first game of the competition.
Match preview
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Gearing up to face off a familiar foe in Barrow, Accrington Stanley will fancy their chances of having a repeat of last season's EFL Trophy victory, where they narrowly edged the Bluebirds by a 1-0 margin, courtesy of a strike from Lewis Mansell.
Accrington are off to a solid start to their League One campaign, having garnered nine points from five games to occupy ninth place in the table, with three wins already posted on the board.
Having started the term with defeat to Wycombe Wanderers, it appeared Stanley would be in for a long campaign, before they rallied around to set the record straight with three successive victories, scoring five goals and conceding once in that time.
However, John Coleman saw his side lose their winning run on the last matchday as they suffered a 2-0 defeat to MK Dons, with goals from Mohamed Eisa and Matt O'Riley forcing them to surrender all three points on away soil.
On the back of that defeat, Accrington will take a break from League One football to focus on their EFL Trophy opener - a competition where they were eliminated in the third round by Lincoln City last season, after seeing four unanswered goals fired past them.
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Having spent over a decade in the National League, Barrow made the step up to compete in the English fourth tier in 2020, but endured a difficult return to this level of football.
For all their struggles, they managed to avoid relegation, staying only five points clear of the drop zone, and Mark Cooper will be urging his boys to raise the bar higher for their second consecutive season in League Two.
Barrow fans can have no complaints about their team's start to the campaign, having notched up five points in as many games to sit in 18th place, with a record of a win, two draws and two defeats.
With more of their attention fixated on staying clear of the bottom two in the league, it is unlikely that the Bluebirds will place much emphasis on the EFL Trophy, and will probably be content with just avoiding the basement of Northern Section Group G.
Unconvincing on their travels, Cooper's men have suffered defeats in their two away games so far, but will be hopeful of arresting this poor run of form on Tuesday.
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Team News
Colby Bishop may have only just returned to training following his recent injury problem, but the striker should be fit enough to lead the line in this game, to be partnered up top by Dion Charles.
The likes of John O'Sullivan, Seamus Conneely and Joe Hardy are still nursing injuries and out of contention here.
Goalscoring midfielder Matt Butcher should retain his place in the middle of the park to provide support for the attackers.
Barrow's recovery room has been quite busy lately as Matthew Platt, Jamie Devitt, Tom Beadling and Mike Jones continue their recuperations.
The newly-signed George Williams should return to the starting XI after sitting out each of the side's previous four matches.
Accrington Stanley possible starting lineup:
Trafford; Sykes, Nottingham, Rodgers; Clark, Pell, Morgan, Butcher, McConville; Charles, Bishop
Barrow possible starting lineup:
Farman; Brown, Ellis, Grayson; Hutton, White, Banks, Williams, Brough; Gordon, Zanzala
We say: Accrington Stanley 2-0 Barrow
As mentioned earlier, Barrow are unlikely to prioritise this competition, and will probably rest some of their key players for the next League Two fixture against Bristol Rovers.
Meanwhile, Accrington will have their sights set on progressing past the group stages, at the very least, and should deliver a winning performance here to sweep the visitors aside.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Accrington Stanley win with a probability of 47.54%. A win for Barrow had a probability of 26.62% and a draw had a probability of 25.8%.
The most likely scoreline for an Accrington Stanley win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.62%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.23%) and 2-0 (8.74%). The likeliest Barrow win was 0-1 (8.17%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.27%). The actual scoreline of 2-2 was predicted with a 4.9% likelihood.
