Exeter City have plenty of questions to answer after a mixed start to the season. Including the Carabao Cup defeat to Plymouth Argyle, they have lost three of their four matches, with the only win coming at home against Accrington Stanley.
Each result can be explained on its own. The Argyle loss came in stoppage time against a team aiming for the play-offs in the league above. The away defeats at Grimsby and York were by a single goal against sides expected to finish near the top. The Accrington win was as comfortable as you would expect against a team tipped to struggle.
Where that leaves Exeter City is unclear. Dating back to last season, they have won only two of 24 matches in all competitions. Saturday's 2-1 defeat at York also means they have not won away from home in 12 games, a run stretching more than seven months.
Some of those questions might be answered on Tuesday night. Barnet visit St James Park, and after three games they sit top of League Two with seven points from nine. They will probably be disappointed to have dropped points at home to Cheltenham Town on Saturday.
Barnet are another side expected to challenge for promotion, so a win for Matt Taylor's team would give the club and its fans confidence that City can compete at the top of the division.
There are also many questions about the side Barnet will face. Will any new signings be completed in time to be registered? If so, who will they be? What is the status of injured duo Jake Doyle-Hayes and Sonny Cox? Doyle-Hayes has a groin injury, while Cox suffered an allergic reaction. Can the small squad cope with two games in four days? And what about Luca Woodhouse and Jayden Wareham, who missed the trip to York amid rumours they could leave? Will they be gone, will they return, and if they do, how will the crowd react to players who appeared not to show up for work?
Do City believe they can win? Vincent Harper suggested after the York match that they did not from the start, and that proved costly.
"I think we just probably needed to believe a lot more in the first 20 minutes that we were going to win," he said. "And we probably started to believe a bit too late towards the end.
"I think if we go we need to start going into games believing a lot more that we can win. Especially it showed against Accrington that we believed and we went out there and put a great performance in."
A great performance would be welcome, but a winning one is needed more. A positive start like the one against Accrington would also help, and assistant manager Dan Green said that was important.
"The feeling is that there was moments within that game where we reached the the required level to go and take it to a good opposition," he said."But there was not enough consistency within that. So, I think the the big theme and the the focus for us will be how we start the game on on Tuesday night, certainly how we get the crowd behind us, so it's important that we start the game with a real energy and purpose about us,
"Today it was a early goal that saw us go behind and was an early setback like that after we went ahead early on last week. In the second half we had moments where we pressed them well and the ball broke to us and we didn't make the most of those opportunities. So definitely a feeling of of frustration but in terms of what we can control, I like the way that we stayed in the game. I like the way that the players stuck together, and that's something we can take into the next game."
City have a young squad with plenty of players who can show their class. Charlie Cummins and George Birch have made positive starts to the season, but Green said the players need to believe in their own ability.
"Some of those young players, the manager will often say to them how much he he believes in them and I think it's time for them to to step up and believe in themselves as well," he added. "I think when we get to Tuesday night when that whistle goes it's about full focus, full concentration, on getting a win at home."
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