Akurang's so glad he took the plunge

Akurang was studying a plumbing course when boss Paul Fairclough signed him last month and he makes his home debut against Swindon in their re-arranged Cup tie at Underhill - postponed last week because of a waterlogged pitch.

"I was only about a quarter of the way through my plumbing course when I signed here," Akurang said. "It cost me five grand to sign up for it - so I've got to make this move to Barnet pay off or I'll be out of pocket.

"The move came just at the right time because the course was starting to get quite difficult and starting to do my brain in. It was also based in Chessington, and I live in Braintree, so it was taking me two hours to get there every morning.

"I don't miss that journey at all, and it only takes an hour to get to Barnet. That suits me better."

Akurang had begun to think his hopes of making it as a professional footballer had disappeared down the drain last year.

He started out with Chelsea and Luton as a youngster, before moving to Chesham and then Thurrock after failing to land a pro deal.

In non-league football he developed a good reputation thanks to his goalscoring record, but a move any higher was proving tough.

The calls did not come flooding in as expected - and even when he did earn a place into League Two he did not get the opportunity to see it through.

Akurang was part of the Dagenham & Redbridge squad that won promotion from the Conference last term.

But he had been let out on loan to Thurrock for the final half of the campaign and was sold to Histon once the Daggers had sealed their fate.

"I was at the point of giving up," he said. "I figured my best chance of making it was to get into a good non-league side that could push for promotion, but it just wasn't happening for me.

"When I left Dagenham I signed for Histon because they were on their way up. I had a good start to the season - and then came my chance.

"I didn't even know Barnet had been watching me, so their interest came out of the blue. It was the chance I'd been waiting so long for."

Fairclough paid in the region of £50,000 to sign Akurang - who struck 10 goals before Christmas in the Blue Square Premier League.

The Ghana-born frontman has played three times for the Bees since making his switch, and admits he is still a little overawed by occasions.

"I played in the game at MK Dons ten days ago and had never played in a ground like that before," Akurang said. "It took a little while to get my head around it, but hopefully I did okay. We won, and that was a great victory for us.

"This will definitely be my most important game so far."

The winners of the tie will face Fulham at home in the fourth round.