When Barnet were narrowly beaten by Wycombe Wanderers in their final pre-season friendly in August, few could have predicted quite how rosy things would look for both when they reconvened three months later.

The Bees host the Chairboys in the FA Cup first round proper on Saturday, with the former sitting pretty at the summit of the Conference, whilst against all odds, the latter lead the way in League Two.

Six months ago, the Buckinghamshire outfit required a miraculous final-day survival act in order to avoid slipping out of the Football League and joining Martin Allen’s side in the Conference, having seemingly been dead-and-buried before a 3-0 at Torquay United on the final day helped send the Gulls down in their place.

Since then though, Wanderers have gone from strength-to-strength, and after a dramatic 2-1 win over M40 rivals Oxford United in their last league fixture, Gareth Ainsworth’s men sit a point ahead of newly-promoted Luton Town at the top of League Two.

Despite being embroiled in a fierce promotion battle, the Wanderers boss has promised a strong side to face the Bees – likewise opposite number Allen – and after only just beating Barnet to a 1-0 win at The Hive, it is little wonder.

Ainsworth told the Bucks Free Press: "It's the FA Cup, which is something I have always treated with the utmost respect. Growing up I was a big advocate of the FA Cup. It means a lot to me; it means a lot to the big teams, never mind the smaller teams.

"I do get upset when it gets belittled by people playing totally different squads, because it's the FA Cup. The FA Cup means a lot to people in this country.

"I'll be putting out the strongest team that I possibly can because I want to win the FA Cup games."

And the 41-year-old, who made more than 500 league appearances during his playing career, is acutely aware of the challenge Barnet pose: "It'll be a very tough game. They are flying; they're big spenders in the Conference and have got some names who could still play in the Football League with ease.

"They'll be organised and we'll have to be at our best to get anything from Barnet. They are top of the Conference and they are top for a reason."

Midfielder Peter Murphy – who scored a stunning winner against the Bees in August – has starred for Wanderers this term and is the club’s joint-top scorer with seven goals.

The 27-year-old former Accrington Stanley man got the winner against Oxford at the weekend and has scored in each of his last three games for the Chairboys.

And Ainsworth has admitted that if the Liverpool-born midfielder continues to score freely, the Blues will struggle to hold onto him much longer.

Experienced centre-back Gary Doherty is Wycombe’s only definite absentee, whilst Ainsworth has admitted a couple of players are struggling to be fit in time, but would not name names.

Wycombe have only just one of the last seven meetings between the two sides, but Barnet have only been beaten once by the Chairboys at Underhill and the two have yet to meet competitively at The Hive.

Paris Cowan-Hall and Aaron Holloway – both of whom have been injured recently – could come back into contention, though.

Wycombe Wanderers XI v Oxford United: Ingram; Jombati, Pierre, Mawson, Jacobson; Scowen, Murphy, Bloomfield; Wood, Hayes, Craig.