Summer 2005 and the anticipation amongst Barnet’s support was so high. After four years in the wilderness of the Nationwide Conference Paul Fairclough’s side had walked their way back to the league. Optimism was high in the camp, with Fairclough stating we were aiming to win League Two as well. Pre-season did enough to generally maintain this mood. In the Bees warm up games came four away wins, a 1-4 home defeat in the annual showpiece against Arsenal (who led 0-4 at the break, so we won the second half!) and defeats at Hayes and finally Gillingham in the final warm up game. Barnet played several trialists, but did not make a great number of signings, those they did were all unknown quantities, such as Norville, Flitney and Bowditch. Anyway, July slipped into August and Barnet’s return to the football league, a home game against Bristol Rovers, described by Fairclough as a “proper football league team” in the build up to the game, awaited.

August

A reasonable turnout of just over 3000 at Underhill for Barnet’s return to the this level of football. I remember the East Terrace being totally buzzing before the game, some people overwhelmed by the joy of now entertaining teams like this and not the Leigh RMI’s and Forest Green’s we’d been used to for the past four years. The Coca Cola advertising boards in Barnet colours were in place, the big away following was there and the stage was set for League 2 action to commence at Underhill! The game itself saw the Bees play some good passing football in a new system of 4-5-1. Barnet were the better team and with twenty minutes to go got rewarded for their efforts when Richie Graham scored the goal to spark wild celebrations in the majority of Underhill stadium. However, a former Bee, Junior Agogo spoiled the party, an eighty seventh minute goal meaning the Bees had to settle for a 1-1 draw on the opening day. All in all though it was encouraging start, most people seemingly just happy to be back in the league for today. A slight dampener on the occasion was the post-match trouble by the Queens Arms, but all in all a good day and an enjoyable night in The Weaver after too.

Next up was Northampton Town, the title favourites, away. A boisterous Barnet following of 614 made the journey up to Sixfields on a mild Tuesday night, most expecting a very tough game and a defeat seeming likely. Walking into Sixfields that night was when it hit me that we really were now at a very different level of football. A very smart all seater stadium, maybe lacking in character, but to walk in and see that, rather than a ramshackle tiny place like so many we’d been to in recent times, it felt good. Fairclough stuck with the 4-5-1 formation, but in the first half it was irrelevant, we could have been playing any system - we were just awful! Northampton, in fairness, were looking very hot too and causing Barnet all sorts of problems. To go in just 0-1 down at the break was a let off, but we could all remember the second half turnarounds we made in the Conference winning season, but could we really do it away to such quality opposition? The answer, well, simply yes. The Bees came out for the second half looking a different side and it wasn’t long before some good passing led to Dean Sinclair, who was immense that night, slotting home an equaliser from close range. The celebrations in the away end were a sight to behold…but better was to follow. However, we had other problems to deal with first. Shortly after Sinclair’s goal, with the Bees looking very strong, the floodlights went out. Cue chants of “CHEAT! CHEAT! CHEAT!” from the Barnet support, but in fact it wasn’t a sabotage, the whole area was powerless for a short while. I feared the game being abandoned, but luckily the lights came back on and we had almost another half time, as the players needed to warm up again. Quite surreal, but a good laugh, especially out singing the pathetic Cobblers fans in the blackout! Anyway, the game restarted and contrary to what myself and I’m sure many others were expecting, Barnet were still playing some superb stuff. The passing play from the Bees was excellent, we just looked great all over the pitch, but it remained 1-1. Or it did for a bit, then, step forward Nicky Bailey. The Barnet midfielder, along with Sinclair, had terrorised Northampton throughout the second half, but in the eighty eighth minute he took it one step further. Getting the ball a good thirty yards from goal, he just ran at a tiring Cobblers defence. He shrugged off one after the other, but had seemingly taken the ball too wide. Wrong, sliding it with his left foot he put it right across Cobblers keeper Harper and into his far bottom corner. If the celebrations on the first goal were considered special, these were even better! I don’t think I’d seen anything like it (I had again by October, but that’s still to come!) before, not one person didn’t go totally mental. Definitely up there with the best celebrations, in spite of the fact we were in a seated stand. Seat jumping, hugging, even kissing people occurred, it was quite a moment! Luckily we held on and the celebrations at the end were also pretty good. A very, very good night. Coming out the ground it was hard not to think that maybe we could win this league, after all, in my seven years now as a fan that second half display was the best football I’d ever seen from a Barnet side.

Next for the Bees was the long trip to Carlisle. I was all up for going, but due to family commitments I was unable to make the trip and had to pull out late on, gutted. Even more gutted when Barnet romped to a 3-1 win at Brunton Park, for the second season in a row. Bailey, with a well struck goal, Grazioli poaching and a superb individual goal from Dean Sinclair saw off the Cumbrians, with only eighty nine Bees fans there to witness it though. Seven points from nine, two away wins, second just to Leyton Orient, early or not, this season was showing promise!

Then this was the game where maybe we started to get carried away. Macclesfield Town at home and a clearly offside goal by Nicky Bailey was given, this giving Barnet a 1-0 win, ten points from twelve and most of all, top spot. It looked as if we were just going to walk another league.

And to add to the optimism we then went and turned over a League One side, was it going to be another title in 2007 too then!? In the Carling Cup first Round, the Bees went to Bristol City, who had endured a tough start to the season, but still had plenty of quality about them. On the night though, so did Barnet. The Bees hit four against their League One counterparts, who had Michael Bridges and Marcus Stewart up front. Dwane Lee hit a brace, Lee Roache came on and added the fourth, but a superb individual goal by Bailey, even better than the one at Northampton, was the highlight of a very good night for the Bees. This big win set up a home clash with Championship side Plymouth Argyle, definitely a potential upset there.

However, after two weeks of being a high and recording some good wins it was back down to earth with a bump for Fairclough and his players the following Saturday, Grimsby Town coming down to Underhill and being the first team to defeat the Bees in their return to the league. The game ended 0-1 to the fishy people, the goal just after the break in a dire, uneventful game.

Things didn’t get any better on August Bank Holiday Monday. A poor Bees performance, coupled with some bad finishing when we did make some chances, led to a 3-1 defeat to Wrexham at the Racecourse Ground. Ian Hendon thumped in a penalty just before the break to make it 2-1, after Barnet had been behind from the fourteenth second of the game, but this time there was no comeback. A disappointing day personally, having trekked up there on the train from South Wales at quite some expense, but oh well, plenty of other chances to win away, yeah?

September

Into the second month of the season then and a trip to Cheltenham, moved to a Friday night due to the Wales v England game the next day. Frustratingly, I was going to this…until I got a text at 1pm saying I no longer had a lift! Bit gutting, even more frustrating that instead of the game I managed to tag along with a group of mates going camping for the weekend - not far from Cheltenham. However, I still couldn’t make it to Whaddon Road. The Bees came away from this game with a reasonable result, 1-1 away to a team who went on to gain promotion via the play-offs. Dwane Lee scored with a superb curling effort from outside the area, equalising after Cheltenham went ahead with a well worked goal. Three without a win now, but avoiding defeat here was the main thing, a good point.

However, it was back to losing again the following match. Our ‘derby’ for the season was of course Orient and in this first clash they got the upper hand, winning 3-2, a score line which in truth flattered a very poor Barnet display. It started well enough, Grazioli finishing off a fantastic passing surge up the park, firing Barnet ahead inside the first twenty seconds, with one of the fastest goals ever scored at Underhill. But it was all downhill from there. A strong O’s side, led well up front by the powerful Jabo Ibrehe came back and hit three before a stoppage time goal from Grazioli gave the score some more respectability for the Bees. This was in particular a game a certain Anthony Charles would want to forget.

Next up was a trip to Wycombe Wanderers, who had started the season in fine form. This promised to be a very tough game. A fairy good away support of 585 made the trip to Berkshire, a large contingent of us on the trains, and it that respect it was a good day. The game however left a lot to be desired. Another defeat, this time 1-0 with Nathan Tyson scoring the goal, shortly after this game he departed Wycombe for Nottingham Forest. Although the Bees lost, again, this was not such a negative one, as especially in the second half Barnet had limited Wycombe to as few a chances as possible and in the late stages nearly pinched an equaliser, Strevens going close. But it wasn’t to be, the early season quality was fading first as Barnet continued their decline down the League Two table.

League Two aside though for the following Tuesday, as the eagerly anticipated visit of Championship team Plymouth Argyle was upon us in the Carling Cup Second Round. What a night it turned out to be. From the off Barnet looked more like the side we’d been watching in those early August games, playing some great high tempo football. The atmosphere on the East Terrace re-appeared too, after a quiet start to that this season. It got even better when Barnet went 1-0, thanks to a truly cracking goal. A corner was cleared to the edge of the box and in a similar fashion to how he pumped home the winner at Aldershot in the previous season, Simon King rifled the ball home with a stunning volley. Plymouth responded however, not long after, with an equally impressive goal. A splendid free kick from all of thirty five yards curled straight into the top corner, giving Tynan no chance and putting the game back on level terms. It stayed this way until very early in the second of, when Dean Sinclair knocked the ball over the Plymouth defence for Grazioli to run onto. The Bees top scorer from the previous two seasons did not disappoint, chasing the ball down and then superbly chipping the keeper as he came out of his goal. A beautiful goal by Grazioli that sparked some pretty good celebrations over in the East Terrace. Plymouth then did look a lot more dangerous, a thunderous shot hitting the underside of the bar and bouncing out being the closest they came, but they couldn’t find the goal they needed and Barnet held on to pull of a good scalp, their second in the competition and more importantly to send them into Round Three. That game though was certainly one of the highlights at Underhill over the season, a very good atmosphere, in spite of a low attendance and probably the three best goals I’ve seen to all come in one match at the same time, if you get what I mean! Things just got better and better with this result though, as we all know.

We all know indeed. Saturday 24^th September, Rochdale at home, but first, the Carling Cup draw. The Bees had never got this far in the competition before and we were all daring to dream who we may get. All week I’d been saying I wanted Manchester United away and I have never been so nervous watching a cup draw. “…and that ball is Manchester United, will play….number three…. and there will be a lot of very happy people…in… Barnet.” That was no doubt one of the greatest things I’d ever heard on a television set and met the news with an understandable “YESSS!!!” or something like that. A great moment, the dream tie and us, yes, us, little old Barnet had got it, Man U away. Of course we then had another Manchester side to deal with, Rochdale and maybe it can be excused the players minds were elsewhere after the draw. A pretty poor display ended in a 1-1 draw, Grazioli grabbing a late equaliser for the Bees, so at least it had an exciting finish! But that day was all about the draw, it was the focus of most songs on the terrace and what we were all talking about. In one month and two days from then the Bees were off to Old Trafford!

Rochdale was followed by another draw, this time on the road. Barnet made the trip to Gay Meadow, Shrewsbury, for the first time since we lost there on penalties in the play-offs two years ago. Barnet came agonisingly close to gaining a bit of revenge, before on loan Ben Herd equalised for Shrewsbury in the ninety second minute, a little while after Yakubu was sent off for a dangerously high tackle. The Bees had trailed earlier on, but a Bailey penalty and then a good (and only Barnet goal) from Louie Soares gave Barnet the lead, but it was another tale of frustration on the road for Barnet, starting to become a regular feature on the road!

October

A new month, but no change, another draw. An awful 0-0 stalemate at home to Oxford United began October, neither side creating much, on a very cold day for that time of year. I was really ill too, would’ve been better to have stayed home.

Torquay away was next, the first meeting since that fateful day in May 2001. However, due to England (again) playing on the Saturday, the game was put forward to Friday night and I, like a few others I expect, was unable to get the day off. I did however catch the game on the radio. Another 0-0 and sounded about as exciting as the previous game against Oxford, still, consecutive clean sheets was a plus, but we were lacking any sort of threat up front.

However, after a run of draws, rather than improving the Bees took a step back, losing 1-3 at home to Chester and having Anthony Charles sent off. One of the worst games at Underhill in a long while, the Bees ripped apart. Notably it was Grazioli who scored for Barnet that day, this was to be his last goal for Barnet until January 10^th.

A brief respite from the league then and the cup’s were kind again! Once again, Bristol City faced Barnet, this time at Underhill and in the LDV Vans Trophy, Round One. A very low turnout of just over 1000 were at a chilly Underhill, somehow a few more were willing to go up to Manchester for a different cup competition to see the Bees play in the following week! However, those who didn’t make this game missed out. Not quite 4-2 to Barnet again, but 3-2 and another win over the League One side was more than adequate. A much improved display on those of recent weeks against a strong Bristol City side containing ex-premier league players and the likes of Dave Cotterill who was capped by Wales just a few months later, the Bees prevailed 3-2, but City pushed them hard at the end.

Yet Barnet just couldn’t get it together in League Two and suffered a hammering at Field Mill, Mansfield the following Saturday. The Stags who had been in the bottom two for the most part of the season up to this point easily brushed Barnet aside, winning 4-0. The argument of course can be that the Bees players minds were on the big trip to Old Trafford four days later, but Mansfield had Carling Cup aspirations of their own and were due to face Millwall the same night as our trip to Manchester, this clearly didn’t affect their players. A poor performance and result, but at least we had the coming Wednesday to look forward to, what chance of ending our winless away run there?

Well, Manchester United away. It was upon us. For me personally the day was made yet more special, by going up to Old Trafford in a limo, provided by Carling for my mate Pete, who had cut short his stay in Australia to return home for the game. Before setting off for Manchester we did a few interviews for Sky Sports News and had the ITV London cameras in the limo with us, along with the Carling Cup, which we all got a hold of, quality stuff. The journey up, as for most of Barnet’s travelling contingent, was a lengthy one, but a laugh nonetheless. Then we got to Old Trafford for about 6:15pm and just had a good look around the outside and the megastore, before I met James (who had my ticket) and we went in. The feeling of “wow” when I walked up the steps and looked down onto the pitch I am sure was felt by most of us. This was surreal, but good surreal, Barnet were playing here, at Old Trafford. For Man Utd of course this was not their season highlight (for some reason!) and Old Trafford was not full, but 44,000 or so still turned out. It was a young United side that Ferguson had chosen to field, so maybe we had a chance? Well, maybe, but take a bow Richard Beeby for making sure we didn’t. Beeby, the referee made one of the harshest decisions of the 2005/06 season, seen anywhere. After just ninety seconds United pumped a long ball forward into Barnet’s half. Under no pressure, Ross Flitney came out to collect, but with his momentum and no doubt nerves, he was just outside his area when he collected the ball, in his hands. The ref blew the whistle and gave the free kick. Flitney looked disappointed, but trotted back to his goal. However, Beeby advanced towards him, reaching in his pocket. I remember turning to my mate and saying despairingly “he’s going to send him off.” Sure enough, he did. A yellow card and a free kick would have been enough and I doubt there would have been much complaint from the Man U players. But anyway, the Bees were down to ten men, after a minute and a half. So, having ruined Flitney’s big day, it meant that the day would be ruined for another player too, as Barnet needed to bring on Scott Tynan in goal now. So the second devastated player of the night was young Louie Soares, who had to be sacrificed and was understandably gutted. To top off a minute of sorrow, Miller thumped the free kick home superbly, giving United a 1-0 lead. All of a sudden the party atmosphere in the East Stand upper had gone very gloomy. It didn’t pick up for a while either, especially after England international Kieran Richardson made it 2-0 with a soft goal after twenty three minutes. After this though, Barnet didn’t concede for a while and the four and a half thousand away fans started to make the most of their big day and make some noise. Half time came and at 2-0 it could have been a lot worse, Flitney’s red card the talking point as all the Bees dotted around the vast stand met up with their mates in the various far flung corners of where we were allocated to have a talk about the first forty five minute’s events. The second half saw the Bees fans in good voice, although it was quietened a bit when the impressive Rossi made it 3-0. However, after this it went quiet from both sides and then in the last twenty minutes, Barnet came alive and the tiring ten men worked their socks off. Their reward came on seventy four minutes. So about 9:14pm, Wednesday 26 October 2005 came one of the best moments in a Barnet supporters life. We scored at Man United. A ball forward was well kept in on the touchline by Hendon. It then went into the box, where Spanish defender Pique had it, seemingly under control, before slipping and allowing Sinclair to run in. The Barnet midfielder kept his nerve and audaciously took the ball round Tim Howard before scoring and sparking certainly the longest and maybe most mental Barnet goal celebrations ever. It was crazy. Crazy. Even though it was just a consolation, it meant a lot to score at Old Trafford, with just ten men too. Unforgettable. After the goal Barnet continued to play well and had Liam Hatch not been penalised for what appeared to be the slightest of pushes on Wes Brown then he may have been through to make it 3-2. But it wasn’t to me. In the end, United added a fourth on the break at the death. But it didn’t matter. Barnet FC had done themselves proud. At full time the players, Fairclough and even Kleanthous got a great ovation down on the pitch. A brave effort, they certainly deserved it. Maybe not the cup shock we were all dreaming of (come on, we were) but a night that made you to be proud to be a Barnet fan even so. A very, very memorable day.

Back to reality then, but at least the return to League 2 action was a good one. After just over two months and eleven games, Barnet finally won a league match. A cheeky Dwane Lee goal and a header from Strevens was enough for the Bees to see off Rushden & Diamonds 2-1 at Underhill, in the first league meeting between the two sides. A good end to a special week for the club, three points that were greatly needed, but now it was back to the cups as we headed into November.

November

Southend United were the visitors to Underhill for the FA Cup First Round tie. The Shrimpers came into the game as the highest ranked team in the competition, sitting proudly on top of League One, having won the League 2 play-offs the previous season. The deadly strike force of Eastwood and Goater were sure to cause trouble for the Bees defence, but in the cups to now the Bees had stepped up their game and done well against bigger sides. In the event, this was no exception, but Barnet did not get the same rewards. A goal in the opening minutes from Freddie Eastwood fired Southend into an early lead and it looked like a possible hammering was on the cards. However, after keeping United out for another ten minutes or so, Barnet began to go forward and create chances of their own. This was then the way the game went for much of its remainder. A lot of huffing and puffing and hard work by the Bees but it went un-rewarded. Jason Norville went excruciatingly close in the latter stages, but Barnet just could not get that all important equaliser and at full time it was the League One high flyers who were on their way to Round Two. A brave effort from the Bees, another better display, could this be the start of a turning point and a subsequent surge up the table?

Mid-November and less than a month after the trip up to Manchester, Barnet were once again in the spotlight for a trip to that part of the North West. This time however the opposition was not so glamorous, Chris Turner’s Stockport County, away, live on Sky. Neither side had set the world alight up to now and both fancied their chances of gaining three points under the cameras. However, once the game began it was the Bees who looked the more dangerous, Louie Soares especially looking dangerous on the left hand side. Yet despite Barnet’s domination, it was a goal on the break by Hamshaw that put the home side in front. Though in contrast to some away games where the Bees players seemed to simpy resign themselves to defeat, Barnet continued to have a real go at County. Sure enough it wasn’t long before it was all square. Jason Norville scoring his first Barnet goal. It was 1-1 at half time, though Barnet could have been a few goals clear and the second half wasn’t a great deal different. But Barnet just couldn’t get that second goal, no matter how hard they tried and in the end had to make do with a point, when really it should have been three. It was now two months exactly since the Bees had won away in the league.

League form was certainly picking up now. The Bees made it three unbeaten in a poor game, but nonetheless a win at home to Torquay United. It was Torquay’s first visit to Barnet since they relegated us at Underhill in 2001 and the form they showed that day suggested they may be in the scrap at the end again, a Bailey goal in the twelfth minute giving Barnet the 1-0 win. The Devonshire side missed a first half penalty they won on a rare attack, but the penalty taker put a tame penalty wide, a shocking effort. Not pretty, but it’d do, back to back home league wins and seven points from nine, things were looking up.

Whilst league performances were on the up, the less said about the LDV game against MK Dons at Underhill the following Tuesday, the better. For me personally it was a horrible day for other personal reasons that I wont go into and this game just added to everything. A freezing, foggy night in front on just 991 at Underhill, a third or so of that coming from Berkshire to see the Bees easily beaten 0-3 in a very forgettable game. One of the worst nights I’ve had at Underhill, expect many others will have not enjoyed that one too.

But after the MK nightmare of midweek it was back to league action, with a trip to Bristol Rovers. Rovers had been going through an indifferent spell of form with very varied results, giving Barnet real hope of a fourth unbeaten league game in a row. On the day though, it wasn’t to be and Barnet largely had themselves to blame. An appalling start from the Bees saw them punished by two early Richard Walker goals for the home side. 2-0 down after twenty minutes, a hammering by five or six goals was looking like it could happen. We were dire. This was much the same until the final twenty or so minutes, but Rovers could not capitalise. However, in the final twenty minutes Barnet really came to life and Ben Strevens nodded home a corner, giving the two hundred and thirty six fans who’d made the trip some hope. After Strevens’ goal the Bees bundled on the pressure, the introduction of Norville most certainly adding to this. The woodwork was hit, penalty appeals fell on deaf ears and Shearer in the Bristol goal made a few stops, but Barnet (once again) just couldn’t score and it finished 2-1. In reality Barnet could not really complain, having not turned up until the late stages the result was a fair one and after a good run in the league it was back to the drawing board for Paul Fairclough.

December

Bury at home. Let’s face it, this is hardly the most appealing of fixtures, something about it makes you think “bore draw.” Well it did for me anyway and yes, it lived up to it. In front of a sub 1800 crowd, on a Saturday at Underhill, Barnet played out a 1-1 draw with a poor Bury side. Barnet were arguably however, even worse. In a rare attack by either side Bury’s on loan midfielder Reet made it 1-0 to Manchester side, but a late goal by Strevens got Barnet a point, which was about right after neither team inspired. Yet again however it seemed the introduction of Norville got Barnet going forward more and being more creative, the Trinidadian heavily involved in the build up to the equaliser.

The Bury game was possibly the worst at Underhill for entertainment this season, but it was at least equalled the following Saturday. Former Barnet hero Scott McGleish and Northampton Town were at Underhill, arriving amidst a good run of form. This continued, the Cobblers winning 0-1 due to a penalty by the wee fella, McGleish. He did still get a great reception before, after and even during, the game! The one positive of the afternoon was Simon Clist making his long awaited comeback from his injury problems, however, introducing just him and no attacking options when 0-1 down at home late on did seem very strange tactics by Paul Fairclough. Another thing of note, this game saw Craig Clayton as Barnet mascot, there Craig, you got a mention!

For me at least, the next match was surreal. Wedged between Northampton at home and Macclesfield away was a midweek trip to Southern League side Aylesbury United for a mid-season friendly, specially arranged to give Simon Clist a run out and presumably for Fairclough to have a look at some fringe players. On one of the coldest nights ever the game ended 1-1, Norville scoring one but also missing a penalty and Clist coming through unscathed and looking fine at left back. There were no more than thirty, if that, Bees there in what was a bit of surreal night. Still, it was free to get in and the chips there were pretty good.

Back to the proper stuff next though, an away trip at Macclesfield, something of a ‘six pointer.’ Just one hundred and fifty one Bees made the trip to the freezing Moss Rose ground to see Barnet gain a dramatic away point. Yet again Barnet left it late before looking like a side capable of winning games. A poor mistake by Flitney led to a long range effort giving Macclesfield a first half lead and it looked like the Cheshire side, led well up front by the burly Jon Parkin, were going to get all three points. However, three late changes seeing Norville, Soares and Vernazza coming on seemed to change things and Barnet looked more dangerous, but it was looking like once again it was too little too late….but this time, it wasn’t. A late corner was one by the Bees. Soares initial hit was blocked, but it came back out to him and he whipped in a looping ball. Everything seemed to move in slow motion at this point as Nicky Bailey connected beautifully sending a bullet header into the top corner from twelve or so yards. This sparked some absolutely mental celebrations on the uncovered terrace behind the goal. A mad dash down the front and surge down there saw James, who was fairly entertaining all afternoon, stack over the barrier onto the edge of the pitch, whilst young Kieren decided to invade the pitch, not the best idea. Despite it only clinching a point for us it felt like a win and the celebrations were some of the best this season, the team also getting a good ovation at the end, despite being pretty poor for the majority of the game. Just to top it off myself and Craig finally met the (then) illusive ‘Lord Beegone’ of Netbees fame at full time. There you go, your mention too Cal!

Another Tuesday night, another trip to a tiny team and ground, but even more so this time! Last week Aylesbury, this week a trip to the glamorous Oxhey Jets in the Hertfordshire Cup. At least this game was a ‘competitive’ one though. Still, quite odd, the ground consisted of two stands, next to each other, about fifty seats in each. The rest? Just grass the other side of a rail surrounding the pitch. The Herts Cup, always a highlight! This one was one to forget, yet one that you’re unlikely to be able to! Oxhey Jets 2 Barnet 1. Madness, weak team or not. In front of their record crowd of 259 a young Bees team (which was different to the initial one Fairclough had said was likely to play - this upsetting some) crashed to a spirited Jets side. The game wasn’t actually too bad, a fair bit of action at either end. Fair play though, for the few Oxhey fans there were this was their greatest ever night. They were a very hospitable club and the burgers there are the best I have ever sampled at a football match. A strange night.

So after a few pretty poor weeks there was thankfully some yuletide cheer at Underhill. A boxing day clash with Peterborough ended in a 2-1 Barnet win, having gone behind early on. A first home win in just over a month and against a side in play-off contention, this again showed that we could beat good sides, it was just a case of repeating such performances.

Barnet’s lack of consistency was highlighted just two days later. At a snow-swept TFM Arena, Darlington, on a Wednesday night, Barnet lost 2-1. Like many away games the Bees were poor early on and then reacted too late, Strevens getting the Barnet goal deep into stoppage time, little consolation to the one hundred and seventeen brave souls who made the trip up from North London. The away form was showing no signs of picking up.

Home form though was a different matter. A 1pm kick on New Years Eve saw Barnet make it back to back home wins courtesy of a Dwane Lee goal, the midfielder had also bagged one on boxing day and his run of scoring form over the holiday period was a big boost as the Bees looked to clamber their way out of the relegation picture. This of course was the last game of a generally excellent year for Barnet Football Club, but the new one would need to see an improvement on the performances of latter 2005, especially to retain league two status.

January

2006 began with a trip to Notts County at the very impressive Meadow Lane. The bank holiday Monday and end to a hectic schedule for the Bees saw an impressive and very vocal away support of three hundred and eighty nine. Pre-match many Bees sampled the joys of ‘Hooters’ bar, certainly somewhere worth checking out again next season, for our male support anyway! Onto the game though and yet again it was the same story to begin with. A bit of a lax start by the Bees and some poor defending and thus after only ten minutes Notts County were 1-0 courtesy of a header on a poorly defended set piece. However, this was largely a much better away display by Barnet, but still a frustrating one! The goal was the only thing County really did all afternoon, Barnet were the side with more possession and looked more dangerous for the most part. However, the Bees just were not clinical enough. They lacked the final ball or occasional shot every time they got into a potentially good position and ultimately paid the price, going down 1-0 to that early goal. A much better display and the fans were excellent too, but losing so many away games was something the Bees were going to need to stop doing if they wished to be a league club next year.

After four games in eight days over the festive period, Barnet now had an eight day break, as Cheltenham Town’s cup exploits meant that their visit to Underhill was moved from Saturday 7^th to Tuesday 10^th January. In the event the crowd suffered considerably, only around 1300 turning out, one hundred and thirty seven from Gloucestershire. Cheltenham were one of the in-form teams too and were up against an injury ravaged Barnet side, the likes of Lee Roache getting a rare start. Yet despite the odds being stacked against Barnet, Fairclough’s side did very well on the night and were in some ways unlucky to only get a 1-1 draw, as they’d done in the away fixture. A stunning goal by JJ Melligan put the visitors ahead in the first half, a beautiful volley, one of the best opposition goals I have seen scored at Underhill. But the Bees head’s did not drop and they battled on until the end. In the final third of the match Giuliano Grazioli came off the bench to make his return from injury and proved to be Barnet’s saviour, heading home a deserved late equaliser, his first goal since October. Barnet pushed for a late winner but simply couldn’t find it and in the end had to settle for a point, but all the same, a good display and something to kick on from.

After Tuesday’s good display the Bees went up to Lincoln City, a team who had been quite out of sorts all season and not been too consistent at any one time. Surely a chance to end the away win drought. Wrong, despite a promising start. Grazioli, buoyed by his goal against Cheltenham made it two in two early on, with a superb finish one on one to fire Barnet into a 1-0 lead. For the first half an hour Barnet played some lovely football and looked like they could well build on their advantage. But then, after forty one minutes it all fell apart, yet again. Some poor defending allowed the Imps to equalise and go off level at the break. They then came out for the second half all guns blazing, whilst Barnet had peaked and were in rapid decline. It wasn’t far into the second half that Lincoln went ahead, a header from a set piece, identical to Notts County’s winner a fortnight previous. After they went 2-1 up a third came shortly after, a very good finish, though he had so much time and space. It got worse even further before long too, a fourth to really compound Barnet’s misery. The Bees were awful, totally abysmal and were in truth lucky that it ended 4-1 to Lincoln and not six or seven. A disgusting display, even though Lincoln were good, Barnet were shocking in the second half. At the end Scott Tynan got a good ovation from the disgruntled travelling support, as the sub keeper was Rushden bound the coming Monday. The rest of the team got a somewhat muted applause, but in fairness, did they even deserve that?

However, Barnet were becoming a very strange team, in terms of performances. Following the shocker at Lincoln came one of the best home displays of the season, at home to the then table toppers, Wycombe Wanderers. Although it was only a 0-0 a battling Barnet, inspired by new boy Andy Hessenthaler showed great quality. Bailey looked better than he had in recent weeks, Sinclair was full of running and on-loan Barry Fuller, making his home debut, made one of the best tackles I have ever witnessed at Underhill to deny Wycombe a great chance of scoring. The poor football and spineless performance in general at Lincoln was in total contrast to a hard fought point against one of the league’s best sides. Of course, the game was played in tragic circumstances. One week before the game, Wycombe player Mark Philo had died in a car crash. A promising young midfielder and very popular at the Causeway Stadium. A minute’s silence was held, which was impeccably observed and the Wycombe fans sang their tributes to him throughout. A very nice moment came at full time when the Barnet contingent on the East Terrace started to sing “there’s only one Mark Philo” in the Wanderers fan’s direction and the visitors joined in too, before both sets of supporters finished singing and applauded each other. Real football, real fans - that slogan rang very true at that moment. All in all an excellent performance, new boys Hessenthaler and Fuller in particular looking very good.

The draw with Wycombe was Barnet’s last game for two weeks, as Orient away had to be re-arranged due to the East London side making it to Round Four of the FA Cup. In the fortnight in between Barnet’s home games with Wycombe and Shrewsbury, Paul Fairclough was busy in the transfer market and finally made the big purchase of striker Tresor Kandol, £50,000 from Dagenham & Redbridge. A big fee, but it didn’t take long for Kandol to win over the Underhill crowd.

February

Shrewsbury at home saw Kandol make his debut, but not without delay! A long day in Barnet first of all saw the supporters team beat their Shrewsbury counterparts, 6-4, Tone the Bone (3), Jamie Rushden Bee, ‘Glasto’ Daz and Craig C were on the score sheet in a good display. I personally think the assistant manager should take a lot of the credit!! But anyway, onto the real game. The events of the day off the pitch were very eventful. Just a day earlier it had been announced that due to water problems at the South end of the stadium the South East Terrace was closed and away fans were being moved into the other bit of the East Terrace, meaning the home fans had to vacate this area and find other places in the ground, though season tickets could be used anywhere. Most chose the South Stand it seemed, though I opted for the slightly warmer main stand. However, half an hour before kick off and as if things were not bad enough already, they got worse. A power cut in the local area meant the players had to cut their warm up short and come off, whilst power was attempted to be restored. In this time, Craig and I were talking to a cousin of Grazioli’s and he kindly invited us to join him in the player’s lounge whilst we waited to see if the game was going ahead. During this time more or less the whole squad and Fairclough came in and it was looking less and less likely as time ticked away that the game would be played. At 4:10pm it was announced on the PA system that if the power was not back by 4:30pm then the game would have to be played at a later date. Luckily however, by 4:15pm power was back and the match began at 4:30pm. As a gesture to those who waited patiently inside and outside the stadium all food and drink was free. A nice touch, Tony. The game itself however was worth the wait. It was not the best of games, but the result was the key thing. In the twenty fifth minute a fantastic half volley from all of twenty five yards by new boy Kandol gave Barnet the victory and prompted some great acrobatics from Tresor. Barnet were the better team overall though and the 1-0 win was deserved, had Sinclair been more composed late on it may have been 2-0, but even so, this was the fifth home game in a row without defeat, the third of those to have been wins. If the away form was bad, at least the home display’s were getting better. A very long and extremely eventful day then, but in the end it was worth it, three points and Kandol looked like he was set to be an excellent acquisition.

Next up Barnet were supposed to travel to Rochdale. However, the 3pm kick off up in the North West was postponed at 12pm, when a lot of Bees were getting close to Rochdale. The supporters coach was one example. In the event of the game being off the forty six Bees fans on the coach went to watch Farsley Celtic v Whitby Town in the Unibond Challenge Cup! Hardly the most appealing of afternoon’s out, but in the end it was quite a bit of fun and a good time was seemingly had by all. Very surreal though! All the same, yet another Barnet-free Saturday.

One month exactly after the thrashing at Sincil Bank, Barnet met Lincoln City again, this time at Underhill. Once again however, it was the same outcome - a Lincoln win. Yet it looked so promising, Kandol on form again with him and Strevens firing Barnet into a 2-0 lead. Half an hour left though and Lincoln got one back, a few minutes later they grabbed another and in the dying minutes they pulled off a spectacular late comeback and held on to win 3-2. Ross Flitney had a night to forget, for a number of reasons. A poor result having looked so good for the majority of the match, but with no points to show for their efforts, the Bees league position was not looking too healthy.

Barnet carried on their inconsistent form in a 0-0 bore draw at Bury the following Saturday. The result didn’t especially help either side, the game not too dissimilar to the meeting between the sides at Underhill earlier in the season. Barnet had now gone six months without an away win and as the commentator on the ITV highlights the following day pointed out “the last time Barnet won away, Australia held the Ashes.”

The last Barnet had won away it had of course been at Carlisle United, the other team to gain promotion from the Nationwide Conference last season. In contrast to the Bees however, the Cumbrians, after a shaky start, made the step up look easy and eventually went on to win the League Two title. However, when they came to Underhill on the final Saturday in February it was still very tight at the top, as it was at the bottom for where Barnet were concerned. Just under a thousand fans made the monster trek from the far flung Northern city, nearly filling the section of the East Terrace that away fans were still using, thankfully though, this was the last game where Barnet fans did not have East Terrace access. On this day though that’s where the main cheers came from. A dull first half ended 0-0, but the second half burst into life early on, when an own goal gave Barnet the lead. However, just twenty four seconds later, Michael Bridges, what a signing he was for Carlisle, made it 1-1. It was then fairly balanced, although if anyone looked like scoring it was going to be Paul Simpson’s side and with just under quarter of an hour to go, they did. Si Hackney, their promising young winger drilled a low effort past the on loan Matt Reed in the Barnet goal, standing in for Flitney who had a case of the mumps, to give Carlisle the lead. Barnet pushed their visitors in the closing stages, but couldn’t come up with the goal they needed and the game ended Barnet 1 Carlisle 2, making it successive home defeats.

The defeat to Carlisle was the start of a run of fixtures against a number of strong sides in league two. On shrove Tuesday Barnet made the twelve mile trip over to East London for the re-arranged game with Leyton Orient. The O’s boasted one of the best home records, while Barnet had one of the worst away, beforehand the outcome seemed inevitable. However, with a great vocal backing from 644 away fans, Fairclough’s side battled hard and came away from East London with a 0-0 draw. On the night real chances were few and far between, Hessenthaler went close with a header, while at the other end Matt Reed made a great save to deny the O’s that all important goal, the young goalkeeper looked far more settled and composed than he did in the Carlisle game. This was definitely one of the better away games of the season, a great atmosphere created by the Barnet support and a much better display than in recent games on the pitch. Orient’s promotion hopes took a slight dent, while the result gave the Bees some help in their bid to move out of the relegation picture.

March

Into March and now it seemed that keeping a lead was the Bees biggest weakness. Just like Lincoln at home a few weeks earlier, Barnet raced into a 2-0 lead, this time at home to Wrexham, Kandol and Norville on the score sheet. The way Barnet played in the first half an hour was very impressive and win, possibly by a good margin, seemed a real possibility. However, once again a slight lapse in concentration proved costly. Barnet slowed the tempo in the latter stages of the first half and a thunderbolt from the edge of the area put Wrexham right back in the game, just before half time. From the Wrexham point of view this did just what they would have wanted, the side came out far more positive in the second half and it wasn’t long before on loan striker Matt Derbyshire made it 2-2, when he was given far too much space and time. Once they drew level the Wrexham threat did decrease, but Barnet had peaked too early and were now lacking any sort of spark which suggested they could get back in front. No one else did score and a 2-2 was the outcome, a poor result given not only had Barnet once again thrown away a good lead, but also as Wrexham’s away form was narrowly worse than Barnet’s. Whilst it ended a run of home defeats, this was by no means the best of results.

Saturday 11^th March 2006 and for me personally one of the worst Barnet displays, if not the worst, I can remember seeing. Barnet travelled up to promotion chasing Grimsby Town on a chilly afternoon for what was always going to be a tough game. However, it was as if Barnet had resigned themselves to a defeat before kick off. Apart from one early effort from Dean Sinclair, going just wide of the post, Barnet did nothing all afternoon to give them any credibility. A spineless display against a Grimsby side who arguably never really got into full flow, bar the ten minute spell in the first half where they banged in three goals, to give them a 3-0 lead. These in the end proved to be the only goals in the game, although Barnet were lucky to have not conceded double that. After about ten second half minutes Fairclough then made some bizarre substitutions. Clist, Norville and the admittedly poor Grazioli were replaced by Batt, Soares and Hatch. Clist and Norville had been Barnet’s best players on the day by a long way and the decision sparked quite a reaction in the stand. The last half an hour was so depressing, a few good saves by Matt Reed the only positive thing, in what proved to be his last appearance of the season he did very well. The reaction at the end by some fans showed the frustrations of many, though not all, “Fairclough out” was chanted by a few for the first time, many people seemed to lose faith that day. It was a very bad day and a dismal performance, the lack of commitment and all round effort was shocking.

One week later though and in the trip to Peterborough, Barnet looked a different side. A creditable 2-2 draw against the play-off chasing Posh and it was so nearly a win! Barnet went 1-0 up in the first half, thanks to a good close range finish by Hessenthaler, his first goal for Barnet. Peterborough then did start to cause the Bees more problems and before too long made it 1-1, this was how it stayed until half time, but nonetheless, the 605 away fans were largely content. The second half began in quite a nervous fashion, neither side were giving much away, though the Posh were just about on top, forcing Flitney into a few saves. However, on the break, from a great passing move, Barnet went into an unlikely 2-1 lead. A good finish from close range by on loan Barry Fuller, his first and only Barnet goal, put the Bees in front and sent the large terrace behind the goal absolutely crazy. One of the best moments of the season. Sadly, it didn’t last long and the goal was met with a response by the Posh just five minutes later. In the latter stages though, Barnet came to life again, though couldn’t really create a clear cut chance. However, in stoppage time Barnet did create a chance, or more so Liam Hatch created a chance. The striker, still yet to score at this point, bundled his way past a number of Peterborough defenders and got through one on one, twelve yards out, just needing to stab it home for the winner. However, in somewhat typical Hatch fashion, he totally got it wrong, firing the ball over the bar when it would have been easier to have hit the target. It seemed no one could quite believe it and what no doubt would have otherwise been seen as a good away result felt like a loss after such a great chance was wasted. In hindsight it was indeed a good result, considering the two side’s league positions, but all the same, what a chance, what a chance….

Seven weeks after Barnet’s last win, Darlington, very much in the play-off picture, were the visitors to Underhill. In what proved to be a fairly entertaining game at Underhill, the Bees finally got back to winning ways, a second half goal by Kandol against the club he played for on loan earlier in the season was enough to give Barnet a 1-0 win. In the second half Ross Flitney also made a fantastic treble save to deny Darlo an equaliser, as Barnet hung on. Liam Hatch went close to making a mends for his miss at London Road late on, when his spectacular long range strike went excruciatingly close to making it 2-0. Nevertheless this was a much better display from Barnet at Underhill than in some recent games, the level of performance was much more sustained and the game was played in a way where it was more open and consequently entertaining. This match also saw Paul Warhurst, Barnet’s last signing of the season, come off the bench late on and make his debut. The former Premiership star would go on to play a significant role for Barnet in the remainder of the season. Back to the game, the main thing was getting those all important three points, Tresor Kandol was really showing just why Fairclough signed him, this his fourth goal in just six appearances and also a good way to make his return after a fortnight out.

The Bees were supposed to end March with the re-arranged game at Spotland, Rochdale. However, for the second time the game was postponed due to the horrific state of the ‘Dale pitch. It was getting a bit of a joke. Tuesday 25 April was the date for the re-re-arranged game, at least this time it was announced in good time that the game was not going to be played.

April

So with Rochdale away being put back again, Barnet were totally fresh to go to Boston United, a very out of sorts side. United had lost 1-3 in the midweek just gone to relegation threatened Chester, at home too. This was surely one of the best chances Barnet had at claiming an away victory. However, from the word go it seemed this wasn’t to be Barnet’s day. Tresor Kandol was not in the side, a blow after Fairclough had announced earlier in the week that Barnet were going to York Street to attack and win. With no Kandol it meant a switch back to 4-5-1. At the time it was not known why Tresor missed out, but it was later revealed he had been arrested and was due in court the following Friday - a huge blow to the side, especially if the court was harsh. Driving offences were the issue, Underhill’s new golden boy had been a silly one. Back to the Boston game though and a Kandol-less Barnet looked very poor. The start was not a good one and after about twenty minutes the Bees were one down. Not only were things bad on the pitch, but off it too. Some trouble occurred in the away end, the very heavy handed stewards ended up clashing with a few Barnet fans and it all got a little bit out of control, albeit briefly. However, at least when the trouble occurred a rare thing came along with it, unity among Barnet fans! On the pitch though the team looked more disjointed than united and before half time Boston scored again, 2-0, things were looking bleak. Barnet didn’t really change much in the second half and looked about as unadventurous as they had in the first. Lee Roache, having just been recalled from a loan at Wealdstone came off the bench and gave the Bees some late hope when he scored with a lovely low curling effort from the edge of the area. Arguably he should have been brought into the fray earlier on, as Roache gave Boston’s defence considerable hassle. Barnet had the ball in the net again, but the referee ruled it out, for pushing if I remember correctly, but it was unclear as the event happened at the other end of the ground to the Bees fans’ vantage point. Barnet couldn’t find the equaliser they were looking for and the whistle sounded to give Boston the win. Another very, very poor away display. Barnet looked unadventurous and against a Boston team that were really there for the taking, the Bees should have done a lot better. On April fools day, the Bees really were the joke of the day. Relegation was a real possibility, it was going to be a tense run in.

The Bees away form was showing no signs of picking up then, but home form was something that could possibly be almost enough alone to keep the Bees in league two. Notts County, not safe themselves, came down to Underhill the following week. Very good news had come the day before however, Tresor Kandol’s sentencing had been put back until the 2^nd May, meaning he would be available for all but at one of the Bees remaining fixtures, if not all. A marked improvement on the Boston display was seen, but having gone off all square, 0-0, at half time, Notts County went ahead very early in the second half. Barnet had been good at throwing away leads, but coming from behind had not been a speciality of Barnet’s this season. This game was, however an exception. Strevens seemingly scored a Maradona style goal, with his hand, when the ref blew his whistle. Initially it was the Bees who were appealing, but it soon was the other way around, when the referee pointed to the spot, due to pushing. Very dubious. But dubious or not, this was a great chance and up stepped former Notts captain Ian Hendon to fire home an equaliser from the spot. They say that lightening never strikes twice in the same place, well, in this game it did. Less than ten minutes later the Bees won another penalty. Veteran Hessenthaler was pulled down in the area and cometh the hour, cometh the man. Hendon stepped up, again and the result was the same, a Barnet goal. This time Barnet did not threw away the lead and held on to claim all three points. A big step towards safety, as Barnet began their run in, largely against teams in the relegation picture as well.

On the back of the win at home to Notts County came the eagerly anticipated trip to the impressive Kassam Stadium, Oxford. With things so tight at the bottom, three points in this would be massive to the winner, pushing them a fair distance from the drop zone and all but ensuring they were safe. Or so was the thought of many before the game. However, we all know this wasn’t the case. Seven hundred and sixty seven Bees, Barnet’s highest away following for a league match up to then in the season, made the seventy mile trip to Oxford. Some did it in a more unorthodox fashion however. Fourteen(?) Bees fans cycled their way to Oxford in aid of the KBA. The bike ride’s start was covered on Sky Sports News and it received a fair bit of media coverage. Very well done to all those who rode, you were a credit to Barnet and the KBA. On the day it was a shame that the efforts of the bike riders couldn’t be matched by the Barnet players on the pitch. Once again, Barnet were abysmal, an utter disgrace. After just twenty five seconds a howler from Flitney allowed N’Toya to fire Oxford in front. Yet again, the players heads clearly dropped and the Bees showed nothing to suggest they were going to really compete. After twenty five minutes the Congolese forward N’Toya made it 2-0 to the U’s and things were looking pretty bleak. The rest of the game was just dire. Barnet did very little, as did Oxford, though they didn’t need to. The result left Barnet above the relegation zone on goal difference, whilst Oxford looked more or less safe, but we know what happened to them. At full time Barry Fuller came over and handed me his black armband the players were wearing to mark the anniversary of Hillsborough. A nice touch by Barry, interestingly he came over when I was (maybe slightly over the top) telling the team just what I thought of the performance. The on loan defender come midfielder shook my hand and gave me the band, did he agree with the points I was making? We were shocking anyway, though Fuller was one of the few players on that afternoon and throughout his time at the club that gave his all and deserved the fans respect. After this game though, I personally, and I am sure a fair few others, were all but sure that a return to non-league beckoned.

But this was a season of ups and downs, things seemed to change from week to week, well, game to game. Just two days after Oxford on Easter Monday, Barnet were back to winning ways. A 1-0 home win against Mansfield Town, obviously considerably better than the game at the Kassam, in spite of the win being against a side that finished with nine men. Nonetheless, some very good football was played by Barnet at times, especially early on. What was significant about this game though was that after a year and a day, to be exact, Liam Hatch finally scored a goal. His first half strike, which he took well, was the first goal the lanky striker had got since Morecambe away on 16^th April 2005 (1-1). As expected the celebrations were of joy and relief, on and off the pitch, much the same as the reaction at full time. Just two days after the Oxford game and the negative feeling held by many of us, after this win it looked much brighter for the Bees, survival was still in our hands (as it was all season in the end) and if we could get two wins, or so, from our last four then we would certainly be fine, it seemed. This was now three home wins in a row, the results at Underhill in the latter stages of the season were proving key to Barnet’s hopes of another season in league two.

One of the reasons Barnet had had to look over their shoulders more anxiously at the drop zone in recent weeks had been due to the amazing revival at Chester City. Having looked down and out in late March, a run of five wins on the spin had propelled Chester to virtual safety, not quite mathematically, when Barnet made the trip to their Saunders Honda Stadium on the 22^nd. Upon our arrival, we were met by getting an ice cream (yes, an ice cream, a nearly finished magnum to be precise) thrown at us by a group of young Chester ‘fans’. Ah the joys of going North. This was no doubt going to be a tough test against a buoyant Chester, though their winning run had ended on the Bank Holiday Monday, a 0-0 draw at another struggling team, Bury. This game marked the end of Barry Fuller’s loan spell at the club. At full time the youngster seemed quite choked, he clearly enjoyed his time at the club, who knows, he could yet return on a proper contract. He went close on the day to scoring too. A shot of his cleared off the line in the second half. The game was a 0-0 draw, though an entertaining one. Barnet certainly were lacking a bit in the first half and a combination of some poor finishing and some good defending, at times, kept the score level at the break, Chester had been on top though. In the second half though, after a bit of a slow start, Barnet looked much better. A good shout for a penalty wasn’t given and as mentioned Fuller, among others, went close. Barnet couldn’t find the goal though and although they had the majority of the possession and had Chester under pressure, an unlucky goal in the favour of the home side still seemed like a cruel possibility. Luckily this didn’t happen and in the end the game did finish a stalemate. The point though was certainly one gained and not two lost, other results made things look quite positive. Barnet had three games left now, Rochdale and Rushden away, with the final home match against Stockport wedged in between. Nine points from them were not unthinkable, but a win from those three alone could prove to be enough. Things were tight, but Barnet were still in control of their own destiny.

Third time lucky, Rochdale v Barnet finally was played. After two postponements the Bees finally played at Spotland and came away with a point, drawing 1-1. Having gone behind an Ian Hendon penalty made it all square before the break. The game wasn’t the most eventful and was marred somewhat from a Barnet point of view by the ridiculous stewarding and general treatment of the travelling support. As most know, Ryan was unlucky enough to be arrested, but luckily he got off lightly in court the following week! As I didn’t make the game there is not much to write here, but the result was not the worst, though we were still close to the drop zone, we had two winnable games remaining. One highlight of that Rochdale game was listening to it online on “Birch Radio” a community station in Rochdale, hilarious commentary!

The final home game of the season and the visit of Stockport County. ‘Winner stays up’ more or less was the case, but on the day, like at Edgeley Park, there was no winner, this time no goals too. A 0-0 draw which helped both sides slightly, but also meant that either side could still be relegated on the final day, but only if Oxford United beat Leyton Orient, if the U’s didn’t deliver no one else had anything to worry about, with Barnet’s next opponents Rushden & Diamonds relegated on this afternoon, there was just one relegation spot left. The Stockport game was a poor one really. Neither side were particularly impressive and the result was about right, although Stockport did cause Barnet a few problems in the first half. The game was quite a fitting conclusion to football at Underhill for the season, neither time had much spark or flair and the game was largely dull, sadly something that we had become a custom to watching since August, with the odd exception. The result made it four unbeaten for the Bees, all but safe, but there was still a job to be done at Nene Park the next week.

May

However, before the last game of the season, and I feel this should be included, came the local elections. As well all know the Conservative administration in Barnet have been less than co-operative in helping secure the future of the football club and have not supported us in getting a new ground in the borough. On May 4^th, election day, it was all about the KBA and everyone hoping our campaigning had helped change people’s voting enough to get a Labour/Lib Dem coalition. Many people worked so, so hard for the KBA, the list of names is very long and all those that did their bit can be proud. I got involved late on, but did seventeen hours of KBA work in two days, leafleting all over the Borough, from Edgware to Oakleigh and High Barnet to Finchley. Sadly though, in spite of all everyone’s efforts, the Tories got back in, with a larger majority than before. In reality, national issues no doubt had a big effect, despite them being separate to these elections, results nationwide showed the actions of Prescott et al had led to a bad election night for Labour. On the night about forty people went up to the social club to wait for the results to come in. Credit to Tony Kleanthous for having an open bar and even laying on food, it was quite a fun evening until the results were more or less announced, though they weren’t officially until the next day. It was gutting for us all and a shattering experience during that week especially, ending in not going to sleep on the 4^th May. Our efforts did not do enough to sway the vote in the end, but I think it’s safe to say that we made ourselves heard and made our point, showing people support Barnet FC and the future of the club. The prospects for us in this borough now look all but non-existent, but we still live in hope, with Salinger being ousted by his own party, here’s to hoping new leader Mike Freer will be more co-operative on the issue of the club’s future. Only time will tell.

Back to the football then and after political defeat in the week, it was important we had at least one key victory in May 2006. Thankfully, we did. After not winning away for just shy of nine months second half goals from Nicky Bailey and Liam Hatch saw Barnet win 2-1 at Rushden to totally ensure they would be playing league football next season. In the end Oxford United lost to Leyton Orient 3-2 and went down, so Barnet’s result was irrelevant in that we would have stayed up anyway. Nevertheless it was great finish with a win, away from home too. The official away figure was given at 1491, but having seen the Barnet end, full, from the other side of the ground, I can safely say that we had at least 400 more than that figure, the 2300 seater stand had spare seats few and far between. I was pretty gutted to have missed much of the second half, having fallen over the barrier onto the edge of the pitch after Bailey made it 2-0 I was ejected, though I was informed by most that a steward pushed me. Anyway, let’s not dwell on that, the win was a good end to the season, Barnet looking pretty good throughout, even though Diamonds were already down, they made Barnet work, but the Bees put in a good display, if only that sort of spirit had been shown on the road all season, it may not have ended up how it did.

So, in the end the Bees finished 18^th, five points safe and amazingly just twelve points away from the play-offs, just showing how tight the league was this year. It is hard to see a season with as many poor displays and lows as a success, but for a club of Barnet’s size to be in league two is an achievement, so sustaining their place there, in the first season back at least, has to be seen as some sort of a success. For me personally, this is not a season that I will look back on with great fondness. Ok, we will never forget Man Utd away and it was fun visiting a lot of nice, new grounds for the first time, although without the results to go with the away days, following us around the country at great expense was not too fun, given we went a week short of nine months without an away win. The football at Underhill this season was hardly great either, games like Bury, Northampton and Leyton Orient were not the most enjoyable. On the road the horror shows at the three Lincolnshire clubs, Boston, Grimsby and Lincoln, along with the awful performance at eventually relegated Oxford stood out as particular lows, for me anyway. Football is of course nothing without such highs and lows though, as the dark days like those mentioned help make classics like Northampton away so special. The trip to the Sixfields had to be my favourite league match this season, though at Leyton Orient despite not winning we did ourselves proud on and off the pitch. The football may not have been the best this season, but for me personally I have still largely enjoyed myself. Coming to Barnet is much more than just watching football, for me at least and the whole ‘social’ side to supporting clubs like ours is what makes it so special. At Barnet you’re part of the club and you mean something. As supporters we are often quite divided, in spite of our small fan base, but this still does not stop the generally friendly atmosphere in and around the club. I look forward to the new season with guarded optimism, I don’t expect to see us up at the top of league two, but an improvement on this year would be good. . Many of us have made some great friends coming to Barnet, myself included and I look forward to more laughs, highs and no doubt plenty of lows in the 2006/07 season.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, it’s taken a fair amount of time to write, but hopefully proved a good read. Have a good summer, see you all in August!

Iain Dalziel (Welshbee)

In terms of a result, I'm not expecting much, but I am looking forward to a great day and a memorable experience, regardless of the final score! Though they may not be the current champions, Manchester United are in my eyes still the biggest team in this country and we couldn't have asked for a better draw. The fact that it is at Old Trafford makes it even more special, as it is a fantastic venue, for a fantastic occasion in the history of Barnet Football Club.

The prices at Underhill are different in each part of the ground, varying from £11 to £18 and concessions can go in the Family Stand for £8.

However, under 12's get in free to every game if they buy a £10 membership, £15 membership is available to people between the ages of 12-18 and the over 60's, this gives them a £6 discount for the part of the ground they choose to go in. Season tickets cost between £247-£342 for adult and between £133-£228 concession.

Part of the cost of getting in at Underhill goes towards helping fund all the planning applications for a new ground that Barnet FC have had turned down by our sadly, un-co-operative local council. This led to a slight price increase this season, combined with the fact we are again playing at a higher level of football following our promotion last season.

I do not believe there has been a downward trend in our attendances, as in the last two seasons we have been more successful on the pitch and if anything crowds have increased. There was something of a drop in attendance following our relegation to the Conference in 2001, but this was always likely to happen. I don't think that ticket prices have attributed to our fairly low attendances as Barnet is still one of the cheapest places you can go to watch football in London. The fact we are based where we are is a problem as most people in the local area's loyalties are with Arsenal or Spurs.

I was not a fan at this time, but this is what someone off the official Barnet message board who goes by the internet name of "low handicap" said in answer to the question:

I think that the prices for juniors of £8 is fantastic and the game being during half term this should help attract a good amount of youngsters. Whilst I can see Man United supporters not being happy at the cost of the ticket prices, you need to see that we are one of, if not the smallest, club in the football league. The money from this game will help us greatly, as we have forked out vast sums in the last decade or so in our so far unsuccessful quest for a new stadium. Of course it would've been awesome to see us play at Old Trafford in front of 67,000, though were that many ever likely to turn up to see Manchester United v Barnet? Apparently with the inclusion of tickets we've sold as well there have been 40,000 sold with almost a week before the game, so it would appear there will be a reasonably healthy crowd, despite ticket prices.

I think I'd like a mix of some of your big name players, but also a few fringe players too, as the latter may give us a better chance of causing an upset. However, any eleven Manchester United field is going to cause us problems and some of the younger players who could be involved in this match may well go on to be the next star players at your club.

Manchester United's fans not seeing this competition of great importance is understandable. You are likely to get in the Champions League every year and this competition only offers a UEFA Cup spot at the end, therefore you don't have a great deal worth playing for. Of course winning some silverware is always nice, but Manchester United are involved in other more prestigious competitions. For us, this is like a cup final. It's being played in the "Theatre of Dreams" for starters and us reaching the 3rd round is an achievement in itself, we have never got this far in the Carling Cup before. This game also puts us in the spotlight and for some of our players is maybe the only chance they'll ever get to play in a stadium and against a team of Manchester United's quality. Also it is extremely exciting for our fans, so I would say in some extent it is our 'cup final.'

After a blistering start, our league form has deteriorated greatly. As I write this we have not won for ten games in League 2 (though that could come to an end at Mansfield on Saturday-lets hope it has!) though we have drawn half of these. However, our form at the start of the season certainly showed we can cut it in League 2 and I'm confident we will get back to form and climb up the table soon. Players worth looking out for are some of our younger ones. Dean Sinclair and Nicky Bailey are always a threat in our midfield and we have an outstanding defender in Simon King. Dwane Lee has also been very impressive in the holding role in midfield this season. Up front our main danger man is Giuliano Grazioli, who scored 29 goals and won the Conference golden boot at the end of last season, at one of his former clubs he once scored against Newcastle in an FA Cup tie, so has come up against a Premiership defence before. Back to the subject of our form, whilst in the league we have been stuttering, in the Carling Cup we've been fantastic! In the first round we impressively won 4-2 at League One side Bristol City and to earn our trip to Old Trafford tonight we won 2-1 at home to Championship side Plymouth Argyle. We were outstanding in that match and thoroughly deserved to win, in truth it could have been a greater score line than 2-1. Who knows. We've won against a League One team, then a Championship team, now a Premiership one?

Well as I'm from Wales originally I think I'd say Ryan Giggs. He is still showing this season that he is a quality player, despite him getting on a bit now. I also think Gary Neville's consistency and commitment to Manchester United has been very good, so I would say those are the two I have the most time for.

If we win tonight this would be it! In the past however, in 1993-94 Barnet held Chelsea 0-0 at Stamford Bridge, this was particularly impressive as we had severe difficulties financially that year and had a very weak team, who only won two league games all season! Despite not winning this was a reasonable upset, even though we lost the replay 4-0. Though possibly our greatest upset came the following season, but again it didn't lead to us progressing to the next round! Barnet beat your arch rivals Manchester City 1-0 at Underhill in the League Cup, courtesy of a goal in the opening minute by now Crystal Palace striker, Dougie Freedman. However, this was in the days of two-legged League Cup games and sadly we were heavily beat in the away tie and went out on aggregate. So we are still waiting for our first really big cup upset which sends us into the next round of a competition!

Well of course I'd love to see us win, but I think it's fair to say that that is unlikely. Depending on the team you play I would say anything between 2 and 4-0, though it would be great if we could get a goal! One thing I hope is that we walk away with some sort of credibility. Though regardless of the result, this will be a great day for our fans and one to remember for the rest of our lives. Come on you Bees!

Great Games and Days Out

Hopefully this will bring back some good memories and here's to hoping that there will be plenty of additions to this in the coming season!

Halifax Town 2-3 Barnet

Own goal,Hatch,Graz

An early start for this one and as usual we (me and Jack) got there in good time, so as to stock up on food and drink and then get good seats. It paid off nicely, we managed to get the two seats with the most leg room!

With Ross and co on the fun bus and Craig short of cash we were joined on the coach only by the older lot: Dazza, Tez, Gerry and Richie.

The journey up was crap. I was tired, bored and the journey seemed to take ages.

The day didn’t really improve when we got to the stop off place, Hepburn Bridge. Last season Halifax was a great day out. It was my birthday, all the lads were on the coach and the stop off was good. Last season we’d gone in a very nice pub for an hour or so. Seeing as it had been good last year this seemed a good idea to do it again. However, this time for some reason Jack and I weren’t allowed in! Despite being older than last time they said we were too young. Despite the fact there were little kids in their with their family. And yes, we were actually in the ‘company of adults’ as we’d gone in with Tez and that lot.

So, we had an hour to kill in a crap little northern town. In the end it was a case of chip shop action and then sitting in a park eating some very nice chips. It seemed a long hour nonetheless and I was glad when it was finally time to get back on the coach.

We got to the ground in good time and took our places on the huge terrace at the Shay, one of my favourite Conference grounds.

At the start of the game the 151 travelling were in good voice. Ross was comically wrecked and it looked like it could turn out to be a good day after all.

However, this new confidence evaporated before long.

An ok start from Barnet had done little to worry Halifax and they decided to attack the Bees. The atmosphere on the terrace had quietened down and on the pitch things went terribly wrong.

Some shocking defending let Dean Howell run through the Barnet back line and then round Shane Gore before blasting the ball into the empty net to give Halifax the lead. It didn’t get any better. Not long after the first, terrible marking from a free-kick allowed Ryan Sugden to get in behind the defence and score from close range to make it Halifax 2 Barnet 0. It looked very bad.

At half time a few Bees fans had had enough and decided the pub outside the ground would be the better option as to where to spend the second half. Ross however was staying positive, telling everyone it would be 3-2. Whatever you say piss head. I then spoke to Craig on my phone and told him that it’d been poor, but if we played properly in the second half a draw might be possible.

At the start second half came one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen at a Barnet game.

Steve Percy, who is more than just loyal to the club, had had enough and decided to let Fairclough know this. Shouting at the top of his voice over to the dugout. I wouldn’t be surprised if Fairclough caught some of it, it was quite a sparsely populated Shay. It wasn’t pretty what he said and I’m sure looking back he regrets it. Before he could say anymore Nick (Al Jolson on the official message board) frankly said “shut up Steve”. And then it started.

Percy didn’t like this one bit and told Al what he thought of him too. Al gave short answers like, “alright Steve”, but Percy wanted Al to get the point and kept coming back. It was during this exchange that Percy said something I’ll remember for a long time. “Prepare for a relegation battle, ‘cos this bloke (Fairclough) is s***, he’s a w***er!”

Like I said I’m sure Steve regrets it and now looking back he would too probably find the relegation comment quite funny. Either way the argument was comedy. £6 for what was to prove to be a good match, but also for a priceless bit of comedy was great value!

Back to the match though and sure enough the Bees were looking a lot better. New winger Graham looked excellent and it was no surprise that he was involved in the goal that made it 2-1 a lifeline for Barnet. A mazy run down the left saw Tricky Dicky (Graham) run into the box and send a cross to the far post. Halifax’s Steve Haslam attempted to clear, but somehow put the ball into his own net.

Barnet’s confidence was growing and the atmosphere on the terrace started to pick up.

After much persistence Barnet levelled. As ever Hatch chased down a ball forward. The defender however was always going to be first to it. Yet Liam wouldn’t stop and as the defender cleared it it hit Hatch’s shin and he then ran onto it and fired past the helpless Dunbavin in the Halifax goal.

This goal reminded me one of the reasons why I love the Shay. A mental run down the terrace took place, with everyone going mad down the front.

A minute later and we had just got back up the steep terrace, out of breath, when it happened. Strevs dispossessed a Halifax midfielder and knocked the ball over another to Graz. Grazioli was at least forty yards from goal, the ball was bouncing and he had a defender on his back. Yet he still managed to spot Dunbavin off his line and…….YYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!

A moment of magic and the Bees were back from behind and now led 3-2. Another terrace run. I was the first down. As soon as I saw Graz hit it I knew it was in and I began to go under the barrier straight away. Before it had hit the net I was on the steps and when it went in I just ran down and then along the gangway at the front, roaring with delight. Everyone else was on their way. Ross was on the advertising boards and had to be pulled down before he went on the pitch. I was hugging people I didn’t know, it was mad! Times like that remind you just how much and why you love the club.

The atmosphere was now excellent. It was a nervous last twenty minutes though. Val Owen very nearly equalised, but the Bees weren’t going to blow it now. The confidence was illustrated when we sang ‘Shane Gore what’s the score?’ The Bees ‘keeper turned round, pretended to look puzzled, before counting it one by one on his hand. When he got to three he gave us a grin and then turned back to the game. On the way home when I reminded Jack of it he said “yeah but he obviously knew what the score was.” Well….yes Jack, I’m sure he did….

After what seemed a long while the whistle went. The Bees had done it. What a comeback. At the end Gore came right up to the fans and gave a few a hug. So committed, he loves it. I physically couldn’t stop smiling. I was ecstatic. I was amazed at what I’d just witnessed.

The journey home was a lot better. Everyone was more talkative and there were plenty of laughs, Tez was telling everyone these jokes from this thing in the paper. It wasn’t a bad journey at all home.

All in all that has to go down as one of my favourite ever games. It was phenomenal. Not the greatest day out ever, but a great result. After that day I felt we could do well. In the NLP the next day Fairclough revealed that at half time he’d told the players to think about the vidiprinter showing the scores on the TV. He’d said that all over the country people would’ve seen the Bees losing 0-2 and would be shocked when they saw they’d ended up winning 3-2. Great team talk Paul. Also well done Ross for predicting the score right!

Hendo (pen),Own goal,Lee

The 16^th October 2004 will be a day I remember for many years to come.

I was up at 5:45am to get ready for the long haul north and left my house by twenty past six, catching the 6:22am bus. Yes, Carlisle. My Dad had tried to talk me out of going that far for one game, but nothing was going to change my mind. Everyone who I told in school thought I was mad, but I wasn’t going to miss this one!

I was well up for it in the week, although getting to the coach at 6:45am, still in the dark, it wasn’t too great. It was pretty cold that morning so as soon as I could I was on the coach-legroom seats, result!

Slowly more people started to arrive and in the end there was pretty much a full coach. Impressive considering the distance. I was sat next to Mikel, with James and Ollie opposite. I was sceptical about the journey beforehand, but there were a few of us. Could be a good day.

As always had bought the Daily Star, no not for page three, for the football crossword. Though it was still very early I was wide awake and by the time the coach left at 7:30am I’d just started the crossword. James was awake properly too and so while Mikel and Ollie had a bit more sleep James and I were attempting the crossword, before 8am!

The journey really wasn’t too bad. After four hours we were already at our stop off point in the Lancashire town of Carnforth. We had until 1pm, so an hour and a half. As usual, well when James is there anyway, we found a pub with a pool table, who opened up for us. We spent our time in there playing a few games of pool (James very nearly potted all his before I potted a ball) and speaking to the landlord, who was a Liverpool fan. We had to buy a drink really, so everyone had a coke rather than anything alcoholic, the coke was not on the tap though-we saw him pour it in the glasses from a bottle!

We were back on the road at 1pm sharp and after going past much beautiful scenery, spoilt slightly by some drizzle, we arrived in Carlisle at 2pm. A big crowd was expected, but when we were driving near the ground you really were taken a back. Carlisle are a big club, with a very large fan base.

Our end was a rubbish little open terrace. To reach it the coach had to drive down a back road behind one of the older stands and then go through a sort of ally to get to the car park behind the terrace. Clearly it was going to be a tight squeeze, but it was so much that the coach was momentarily stuck.

When we got into the ground I have to say it felt odd. I’ve been to see Barnet at places like Hayes in the same league as this. So it felt odd to think that this was a league game. At Conference level Brunton Park is massive.

The ground has two big stands on either side of the pitch. Standing on the uncovered Petteril End away terrace, on your left is the biggest stand (I think) in the conference. It’s massive and looks very impressive as it was only built in the last five to ten years. Opposite that is an old half-terrace half-seat stand. Finally behind the other goal is a covered terrace, which I expect can hold quite a few, with a big “CARLISLE UNTED FC” sign on the front of it. An fairly impressive place.

By the time the game started there were about 200 Bees. The attendance was an awesome 9215, the second biggest ever in the conference’s history.

Barnet started the game well. Very well. In the second minute Graham cut inside the box, went to cross it, but it was blocked. By the hand of a defender….penalty!! 9000 Carlisle fans couldn’t believe it, 200 Bees were ecstatic but nervous.

As Ian Hendon stepped up I had the image in my head of him missing that penalty at Hereford away last season. Oh no…I was panicking…he’s gonna miss again. Go on Hendo……YYYYEEESSS!!!!!

A brilliant penalty. Everyone went bloody mental, I was delighted, but shocked, we’d come up here and within a few minutes we were winning. After the goal we gave Carlisle a nice little reminder of our league position. Several times the small band of singers broke out into “weeeee, we are top of the league, we are top of the league and that’s where we belong!! 1, 2 , 3 ,4!”

We had started well and looked firmly in control, but I couldn’t see us scoring again, not for a while. Yet at about the half hour mark, we did! Hendon gave it to Sinclair who made a tantalising run down the run before hammering a low cross into the box. With the ball moving at a pace Carlisle defender Tom Cowan slid in to clear it, but instead he simply fired it past a helpless Glennon in the United goal.

Equally mental celebrations. We were 2-0 up, yes 2-0 after just half an hour-amazing!

Carlisle now decided to play. They began to put a lot of pressure on the defence and in the forty first minute they got one back. They’d already missed basically an open goal and forced a couple of saves from Scott Tynan. The goal was unlucky on Scotty. Tynan had made a great close range save from Hawley but it came out and I think hit Clisty and flew in. Something like that happened but it was Brendan McGill who was credited with the goal.

Half time 2-1, but a bad time to concede. At half time we saw Carlisle’s future answer to Graham Norton. They had a group of cheerleaders, all girls-bar one. There was a boy, no more than six, wearing a white t-shirt and blue shorts, vaguely matching the rest and he was loving it!

Second half. Never been so tense watching a match. Carlisle were all over us. Every time we cleared the ball or Tynan grabbed it I clenched my fists with joy. Everyone was so nervous it was untrue and quite a few people were saying 2-2 would be ok now, so long as we don’t blow it totally and get beat.

Hendon cleared off the line (somehow), Kingy and Yaks were making some awesome tackles and Clisty was working his socks off. Carlisle huffed and puffed and tried and tired but just couldn’t score. On a rare break Lee Roche chased a ball forward down the right and won a corner. Roachy was playing alongside Strevs, Hatch and Graz were unavailable, but the boys had done well.

From the corner I didn’t expect much, we don’t do too much from corners as a rule. The corner was whipped in by Clist and then everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Dwane Lee came running in and at the same time as a powerfully connected his head to the ball James shouted “Dwwwaaannnnne!”

Then back to normal speed and the tall midfielder’s header flew in to put us 3-1 in the seventy eighth minute. This was the maddest celebration of the lot. As I ran down the steps I was shouting “we’ve won, we’ve f***ing won! YES!!” I couldn’t believe it. Ross and I mobbed the young steward at the front. He was confused at first, but saw the funny side and gave us a pat on the back saying “well done lads”.

The remainder of the game went by quickly and the whistle was met with euphoria, then fear.

Back down to earth with a bump-almost literally. As I was applauding our heroes Ross came up to us and said “there are about 300 geezers outside.” We were then locked in and stones started to fly over the stand. A friend of the lot who were staying in Morecambe, whose from round there was telling people like me “hide ya fookin colours lads, these are nasty bastards.” My scarf went up my sleeve and my jacket was zipped to the top. Either way I was admittedly bricking it. In the game they had been singing, “your gonna get your f***ing heads kicked in”, unfortunately they were for real.

The policing was crap but finally they sorted it out. About a minute before we were let out the Barnet players came out for the warm down and were given a great reception. Then as the gate opened the ever witty James came out with “we’re going home, your not!”. A few of us sang it and it gave the players a laugh. Then as we finally got on the coach and pulled out two little northern rats ran past and threw an egg at the coach. Once again Percy entertainment! Steve was off the coach in a flash and ran after them. In a way it’s probably just as well he didn’t catch them, he wasn’t happy. He got clapped back on, it was funny though.

The journey home took a longer. Only Ollie and I were awake the whole time and we had a long conversation, I’d seen Ollie loads of times before but this was the first time I’d properly spoke to him. Top lad. Including a stop off at a service station, where I got a burger king for my dinner, it took around five and half hours. My Dad picked me up by the petrol station at about 11:10pm and I was home by half past.

In the days leading up to the game my only worry had been going up there and seeing us get a hammering. But instead we’d got one of the best results of the season. My Dad admitted that he was glad I had gone, because of how gutted I’d have been if I’d missed it. What a day! CARLISLE UNITED 1 BARNET 3.

Not only a terrific result but a good day at Aldershot too!

For this one I decided to go on the train rather than the coach. I had booked a place, but when my mates Wilf and Dom tried it had already been fully booked. So as not to go alone I decided that this would be more enjoyable. I knew all about Aldershot’s reputation but decided to risk it and make more of a day of it.

I met the boys at East Finchley tube in North London at 12pm and after a smooth journey we were at Waterloo by ten to one. After getting our tickets, £5.15 for a return was very reasonable, we met Mikel before quickly going to McDonalds to get some lunch. When we returned we also bumped into Unibee and in the end seven of us Barnet fans ended up on the train together.

Again an easy ride and we got into Aldershot just after 2pm. There was a fairly large number of police at the station, but they weren’t much use seeing as they didn’t know the way to the ground! Luckily for us Unibee did and we were there within five minutes.

On arrival to the ground I was met with some (well for me) awful news. We weren’t being allocated any part of the East Bank. After last year’s game I decided that’s my favourite stand in the world and was gutted that we weren’t able to use it. Instead they stuck us on a crappy terrace by the railway track, a bit like the North West at Underhill, so yes no roof either. Slowly the terrace began to fill up and all in all it was a very good turnout from the Bees.

When the game started I was standing roughly in the middle of the terrace, with Unibee, Mikel and Beeliever. The noise was very limited; even I started a couple of player songs! However, soon after a few more arrived and the atmosphere improved a bit, but it still weren’t great. Barnet got an early goal when Hatch headed across the six yard box and Grazioli connected to stab the ball home from close range. The surge was nothing special, but it did allow me to make my way to the back of the stand where I met up with Ross.

Shortly after I got to the back Craig C turned up. He had come late after a problem with the trains and was in good spirits to say the least! After the goal the atmosphere died down quite a bit. Aldershot raised their game and after thirty five minutes finally equalised through their pikey number 25, Jonny Dixon. The rest of the first half was pretty dull, Craig and I heard they were opening the East Bank for us and so we headed up there, only to find it was only a small bit of terracing that they’d opened.

At half time we stayed on the terrace by the East Bank and were joined by Ollie and James. James however nearly didn’t stay for long. He went up to a cop and asked about the East Bank. He told James to go and ask the steward. Yet when James did this jobs worth cop came and asked “is he hassling you, do you want me to chuck him out?” James wasn’t best pleased and when the game restarted he went back to the other terrace. Me, Craig and a total of twelve others stayed. However, two more left before long, one being Ollie.

To be honest I was feeling annoyed. This was a crap game and Barnet were not playing anything like usual. I was like many pissed off about the East Bank and was generally not happy. However, soon it changed. After standing still and bored for fifteen minutes or so a certain Mr. Graham changed that. Cutting in from the left he pulled the ball back and then drove his shot into the bottom corner to give Barnet a 2-1 lead, very much against the run of play. As there was no one to celebrate with, bar Craig, I bombed it down the front (alone!) before running toward the East Bank. Those who noticed me weren’t happy! Then Craig and I legged it under the stand and back to where we’d been earlier.

Tricky’s goal was a real turning point. The atmosphere picked up and so did the game. Barnet went through their best spell, but soon were unlucky. From a free kick, Dixon met it in the box and pulled the Shots level. This didn’t affect the atmosphere though, especially as we knew Carlisle were down to ten men and losing 2-0 at lowly York City!

Barnet still weren’t playing that well, but kept fighting. With seven minutes to go Dwane Lee challenged the keeper for a header only the ball to spill out to the edge of the area. After Sinclair hitting the ball against a defender it spun out to centre back Simon King. Before this season Kingy hadn’t ever scored. But from this he made it 2 in 2. Reacting superbly he struck a beautiful volley from 25 yards, which soared into the roof of the net. This sparked a totally nuts celebration-class!

The Shots then really went for it, but somehow we hung on! Carlisle got a late goal, but lost 2-1! This meaning the Bees go 7 POINTS CLEAR!!!!

The scenes at the end were great. Fans, players and manager all delighted-this was a BIG win!

Now for the potentially risky walk back to the station. Thankfully Dazza and Craig were ok with us going with them. There was no trouble except for some prick pushing me and shouting “Barnet are f***ing crap!” The bloke was a good six foot and was a skin head so walking away was the best option! Strange how are “f***ing crap” team had just beat them 3-2 though.

Once at the station the singing, mainly of “we’re on our way”, began again. This continued for the first bit of our journey. Then it was just a fairly chilled out journey for most of us. Squibby climbed onto the luggage rack and there were various stackings, but I got away ok!

When we arrived back at Waterloo the singing started again. This time it didn’t stop until we’d gone a few tube stops on our way home. I chose to go the long way home rather than change and go onto the Piccadilly home.

Instead I stayed on the train all the way to High Barnet, saying bye to Dom (who had a great first away day!) and Wilf at Highgate. Dazza and James found a female Bee who was duly added to the shirt challenge. The singing restarted when we left Totteridge and Whetstone station and were ‘on our way’ to High Barnet. We sang a little more after getting of the train before finishing the singing for the day.

Outside the station we got a very nice bird and her boyfriend to join us for a group photo by a ‘Barnet FC’ sign. Then Ross, Fred and Dazza headed in one direction and me, Craig, James, Gezla and Richie made our way down to Barnet. They went off to the Weaver, but deciding that I didn’t want to outstay my welcome I went to the bus stop. On the bus home Guy Lopez got on at Arnos Grove, but I didn’t speak to him as he’d hardly played and I had to get off soon after.

All in all a great day and a quality result…..seven points clear!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just love it, days like this is why we do it. Brilliant!

Barnet: Tynan, Hendon, King, Yakubu, Clist, Strevens, Lee, Sinclair (Lopez), Graham, Grazioli, Hatch

Unused Subs: Millard, Batt, Maddix, McBean

Iain Dalziel’s Man of the Match: Richard Graham, between him and Hatch, who as Gerry said on the train worked his socks off. However, I just felt that every time Tricky got the ball he looked dangerous. He put his goal away very well too.

Name: Chris Rollings

Supports: Boston United

So, looking forward to the new season? Sort of, I think it will be another mid-table finish for us. Or we will just miss out on play offs.

Who will be the player to watch out for from your side? Well, we have got Brad Maylett who just get everywhere on the pitch! But we also have the experience of Noel Whealen up front! Either of them!

Have you got the right manager? Steve Evans does come out with a load of rubbish some times but he knows what he is doing, he is more than capable of getting us to a higher division.

What do you think will the club be aiming for next season? Our club will be aiming for play offs next year, whether we get them is another question!

Where do you think you’ll finish next year? I think we will finish mid-table, I’ll go for 14th

Name: “Sir Dursley”

Supports: Bristol Rovers

So, looking forward to the new season? I'm always looking forward to the new season. Should be interesting to see Graz at Underhill 1st game of the season.

Who will be the player to watch out for from your side? Christian Edwards, he had the best season for Rovers without a doubt. Whenever I seen him, he was almost always the best man on the pitch last season and in the match programme, he was voted man of the match virtually every game. Another person to look out for is former Barnet man, Junior Agogo ;)

Have you got the right manager? Yes and no. Yes, because last season was risking to go all-out to try and secure a good league position last season which he did although no because the mans a twat.

What do you think will the club be aiming for next season? Mid-table. It will be high expectations from the fans again but can only see us finishing mid-table once again. Every season it's always "This time, we'll come top definite" and then we finish around mid-table.

Where do you think you’ll finish next year? Read above, but if you mean exact then I’ll guess 13th

Name: David Turner (aka. Davet)

Supports: Bury

So, looking forward to the new season? Defiantly, can't wait.

Who will be the player to watch out for from your side? Simon Whaley

Have you got the right manager? Yes

What do you think will the club be aiming for next season? Play-offs

Where do you think you’ll finish next year? 10th

Name: Simon Sheridan (aka cufc_si)

Supports: Carlisle United

So, looking forward to the new season? Definitely

Who will be the player to watch out for from your side? If he plays Simon Hackney then him, but for me Danny Livesy is gan <(Cumbrian language) from strength to strength so yep Danny Livesy

Have you got the right manager? Absolutely

What do you think will the club be aiming for next season? Mid Table/Play-offs

Where do you think you’ll finish next year? 12th

Name: Ben

Supports: Carlisle United

So, looking forward to the new season? Yes can’t wait

Who will be the player to watch out for from your side? Adam Murray

Have you got the right manager? Think so

What do you think will the club be aiming for next season? First target to get enough points to secure survival then push on from there

Where do you think you’ll finish next year? 12^th

Name: Chris Judge (aka Judgie)

Supports: Cheltenham Town

So, looking forward to the new season? Very much

Who will be the player to watch out for from your side? Grant McCann

Have you got the right manager? No

What do you think will the club be aiming for next season? Play-off place

Where do you think you’ll finish next year? Top half of League 2

Name: “Sadlebone”

Supports: Chester City

So, looking forward to the new season? hmmm... difficult question

Who will be the player to watch out for from your side? Ben Davies

Have you got the right manager? Unsure as yet, I hope so.

What do you think will the club be aiming for next season? The club suggests a top seven finish

Where do you think you’ll finish next year? Mid to lower half of table currently, hopefully as the club suggests

Name: Chris Smith

Supports: Leyton Orient

So, looking forward to the new season? Indeed I am, counting down the days until new fixtures are out, counting down the days until first pre season friendly, counting down the days until the start of the season

Who will be the player to watch out for from your side? Simpson is probably the most consistent performer out of the side but for that little flash of brilliance watch out for Daryl McMahon

Have you got the right manager? I'm pretty sure Ling knows what he's doing for next season however if it is all pear shaped 6 months from here the blame will have to start somewhere.

What do you think will the club be aiming for next season? Promotion

Where do you think you’ll finish next year? 3rd

Name: Ashley Billinghay

Supports: Lincoln

So, looking forward to the new season? Yep. League 1 here we come

Who will be the player to watch out for from your side? Danny Bacon.
a star in the making.

Have you got the right manager? Definitely. playoffs 3 years on the trot and now for promotion

What do you think will the club be aiming for next season? Automatic promotion

Where do you think you’ll finish next year? Top of the league. If all our players play consistently well then we can do anything!

Name: Olly

Supports: Macclesfield Town

So, looking forward to the new season? Yeah definitely. After last season I think we are well capable of achieving and if we just keep improving a little, it'll be exciting.

Who will be the player to watch out for from your side? Hmm...I'm not sure of the new signings we may get. Martin Bullock if we get him I think is quite good. I'd have to say 'The Beast' Parkin or Paul Harsley though at the minute. Maybe John Miles, if he finds form he's outstanding.

Have you got the right manager? Certainly. Probably our single biggest strength and not scared to make the big decisions. Has a winning mentality.

What do you think will the club be aiming for next season? Play-offs again, but maybe automatic if the right signings are made. We really weren't far off this year.

Where do you think you’ll finish next year? Hmm I'll be positive and say 3rd!

Name: Ben Mason (www.realleague.uk.tt)

Supports: Mansfield Town

So, looking forward to the new season? Well I am. Fairly optimistic about next year although other fans do not share my views.

We will go up!

Who will be the player to watch out for from your side? Judging by the way he played towards the end of last season, I am going to go with Callum Lloyd, he is a young lad just been brought through the youth set up and is a bulky central midfielder who has already chipped in with a few goals, I predict a bright future for him!

Have you got the right manager? Now that is a matter of opinion, it is too early to be judging Mr Palmer.

What do you think will the club be aiming for next season? Automatic promotion, obviously all clubs aim for that, but what I am hoping for is at least a play off spot.

Where do you think you’ll finish next year? Between 1st place and 7th place, ideally 1st

Name: Dave Ecton

Supports: Northampton Town

So, Looking Forward To New Season? With guarded optimism, always favourite but somehow never quite do it.

Who will be the player to watch out for from your side? Josh Low (away fans favourite and mine), Andy Kirk (25 goals this coming season), Sean Dyche (old ugly bastard with form) and Brett Johnson (new supposed wonder boy from Aldershot). One not to watch for David Rowson a f***ing liability.

Have You The Right Manager? With money, with infrastructure, with an ambitious Chairman, with good support and turned us into shit, what do you think? However will wait to see what the tables look like in November, before the Calderwood out campaign starts in earnest.

What do you think will the club be aiming for next season? Automatic promotion. With a £10 Million stadium refurb, it's got to be or big problems loom.

Where do you think you’ll finish next year? Top 3 for the reason with have to or we will be up the creek.

Name: Richard Brown

Supports: Notts County (www.nottscounty-mad.co.uk)


So, looking forward to the new season? Definitely. The Ice Age is well and truly underway here and there is, yet again, cause for much excitement down at the ‘Lane.

Who will be the player to watch out for from your side? With no new signings through the door as yet, I could quite see our Welsh under-21 captain, David Pipe having another good season. Chelsea, Arsenal and West Brom target, Kelvin Wilson will also be important to our ambitions, should we manage to tie him down to a new two-year deal, offered prior to the end of the season gone by.

Have you got the right manager? I’d say so, yes. Having met the man during pre-season, I can honestly say that – for an ex-international manager with Iceland – we have an appointment with his head screwed firmly down. With experience of working on a budget and still achieving greatness – both at home and abroad – it appears we’ve started to the see the corner. Now all that’s left is to turn it!

What do you think will the club be aiming for next season? Massive expectation hindered by the club’s slow recovery from financial hardship and below-par on-field performance has not dampened hopes. The clubs fans demand and look to Gudjon to feed the appetite, as it were. Promotion cannot be ruled out.

Where do you think you’ll finish next year? Top half is by no means beyond us; but I’d love a crack at the play-offs. In Gudjon we trust.

Name: Clive Browning

Supports: Oxford United

So, looking forward to the new season? If you'd have asked me right after the end of last season I'd have probably said NO! It was a dreadful, dreadful season full of underachievement on the pitch and controversy off it. But its funny how soon it gets forgotten and the buzz is coming back and I'm now looking forward to the season again.

Who will be the player to watch out for from your side? Chris Hackett, our right winger, really started to have a good run in the latter part of the season. He started to realise some of the potential we knew he had in him. Next season will be a big one for him to see if he can maintain that form and push on. We've also got some youngsters on the fringe who will be worth watching out for, primarily Tom Winters (left wing) and Billy Beechers (striker).

Have you got the right manager? God I hope so. It would be a novelty to get through the season with just one manager. Last season (including caretaker) we had 4 different managers! Brian Talbot wasn't my ideal choice for manager, but I hope for our sakes he turns out to be the right one.

What do you think will the club be aiming for next season? It's got to be playoffs at least, after being in this division for nearly 6 years the pressure is on the Chairman and the Manager to deliver.

Where do you think you’ll finish next year? Tricky. My heart says 5th but my head says 12th! lol

Name: Peter Burrow (real name? Obviously not!)

Supports: Peterborough United

So, looking forward to the new season? More than the last one it has to be said, Fry has stepped down as manager which has to be good news, however he’s still there driving the club into the ground and seemingly pulling strings all over the place in his role as "director of football." The club is still in deep trouble, but Wright coming in with a fresh approach on the field may hopefully give us something to smile about

Who will be the player to watch out for from your side? We haven’t signed him yet J But presuming we don’t sign anyone world class before start of the season. Callum Willock has the potential to score way over 20 goals this season, and Adam Newton has the Potential to cause a lot of left backs misery.

Have you got the right manager? Not sure, One thing is for sure, we sure as heck haven’t got the right owner/director of football.

What do you think will the club be aiming for next season? Play-offs, like every season

Where do you think you’ll finish next year? I haven’t a clue, we seem to have shipped out our whole midfield over the summer so its somewhat unpredictable especially since we've signed no one to replace the players we've lost. But anyway, I think we'll finish one place above the Cobblers.

Name: Peter Owen

Supports: Rochdale

So, looking forward to the new season? I am really looking forward to the new season, who isn’t?

Who will be the player to watch out for from your side? Grant Holt, once again.

Have you got the right manager? Yes. Parkin has transformed this club into worthy opponents

What do you think will the club be aiming for next season? The club will be aiming to improve on last years 9th place finish, top 7 will be the target.

Name: Harry Fraser

Supports: Rushden & Diamonds

So, looking forward to the new season? Certainly...we are in a position where we don't have a clue what will happen. We are tipped to do badly, but we know we can prove the bookies wrong. The fans now own the club, so it will be a great season to be a Diamonds fan!

Who will be the player to watch out for from your side? It's hard to say at the moment. We've made a few new signings, with a few more to come, so we're not sure who are going to be our star players as such.

Have you got the right manager? Yes. Barry Hunter was the best possible choice after Tippett was sacked (It was hell with him). he's got great motivational powers, and really loves the club. Still got a lot to learn as a manager though.

What do you think will the club be aiming for next season? At the moment it's hard to say. Mid-table would be nice, to the Trust owned club off to a steady start. We're not even considering relegation. The main aim will be to get the club running steadily, and reducing money loss.

Where do you think you’ll finish next year? I'd say we're capable of a 12th place finish. Could be anything though!

Where do you think you’ll finish next year? I believe the club will finish somewhere in the top 7, I think 5th.

Name: Chris 'Carter' Allen

Supports: Shrewsbury Town

So, looking forward to the new season? Yes - after last season which we always knew would be a struggle!

Who will be the player to watch out for from your side? Neil Ashton

Have you got the right manager? Yes - He'd rebuilding quite well with plenty of young players and seems to talk a lot of sense!

What do you think will the club be aiming for next season? Play-Offs

Where do you think you’ll finish next year? Just outside Play-offs

Name: Scott Tonson (www.county4life.com)

Supports: Stockport County

So, looking forward to the new season? Yes, although I was looking forward to last season when we finished the season before under McIlroy after an eleven match unbeaten run, but it all went pear shaped and therefore I’m always a bit wary just in case it goes ‘A’ over ‘T’ again….

Who will be the player to watch out for from your side? I think it would have to be Tes Bramble and Harpal Singh! Singhy is sharp and very quick, and Tes is proven at this level so he should please the crowd.

Have you got the right manager? I think we have, although he slipped through the back door into the office-no official ‘welcome’, no on the pitch ‘hello’, very quiet. He has done some shrewd business this summer by bringing back Robbie Clare from his season long sabbatical in Blackpool. Yeah, I think he’s the right bloke.

What do you think will the club be aiming for next season? Well the fans are hoping for a good season, the realists are looking at mid table, I’m not sure in which category I fit into yet…Ask me again in September!!!

Where do you think you’ll finish next year? Mid Table to be honest would be a decent season, I think if we win more than we lose it’ll be worth celebrating…

Name: Paul Martin

Supports: Torquay United

So, looking forward to the new season? Yes

Who will be the player to watch out for from your side? Matt Hockley

Have you got the right manager? Yes

What do you think will the club be aiming for next season? The Play-offs

Where do you think you’ll finish next year? Promoted

Name: James Wainwright

Supports: Wycombe Wanderers

So, looking forward to the new season? Yes, I actually believe this season may be different from the rest. We have signed a few very good players and I think the future is looking good.

Who will be the player to watch out for from your side? Nathan Tyson if he is still here, but now we have signed Tommy Mooney I think he can be just as useful to the teams success.

Have you got the right manager? From what I saw of him last season, he does look like he is but I suppose only time will tell.

What do you think will the club be aiming for next season? The club is only looking for promotion, with the money we have spent if we don’t get promotion we could be in trouble.

Where do you think you’ll finish next year? I know probably most people will say this, but I think we can actually go up if we can keep a good home record.

However, Barnet's scoring stopped there, but now Halifax came to life. They got two goals back, had one offside, had a penalty from which they struck the post and also forced Naisbitt into a fine save with a close range effort. The Bees were lucky in the final twenty minutes that Halifax didn't come back and steal the three points! But we held on and left the ground singing. It was an enjoyable coach journey home too, in what was generally a rather poor season. Nonetheless, what a day, ah memories....

In

Paolo Vernazza - Midfielder - From Rotheram - Free Transfer
Barry Fuller - Defender/Midfielder - From Charlton - One Month Loan
Andy Hessenthaler - Midfielder - Unattached - Free Transfer
Alex Varney - Striker - From Charlton Athletic - One Month Loan
Tresor Kandol - Striker - From Dagenham & Redbridge - £50,000
Matt Reed - Goalkeeper - From West Ham United - One Month Loan
Stevland Angus - Defender - From Grays Athletic - Undisclosed

Out

Scott Tynan - Goalkeeper - To Rushden & Diamonds - £10,000

With the Bees first team playing the previous evening a nine man squad of supporters travelled to Stevenage to take on their fans in a six-a-side match. The game started at a high tempo, both sides pushing forward but also defending well.

After a few minutes Barnet manager ‘Buster’ replaced Keith Doe with Craig Clayton up front. The change had an immediate impact, within a minute of coming on the sixteen year old attacker hit a wonderful goal. Receiving the ball on the far right, he lashed at back across goal into the far corner.

The goal woke the home side up, and Boro started pressing for an equaliser. With Bees centre back Barnsley going off for a short wile the Bees were left short at the back. Boro capitalised on this, equalising through a low drive, just beyond the reach of Barnet ‘keeper James Harrison. Barnet quickly responded and within two minutes of being drawn level Keith Doe, who had come back on, stabbed the ball under the goalkeeper to make it 2-1 to Barnet.

There was then a period of very few chances. However, just before the half time break Boro scored two in quick succession. The first was scored in similair fashion to the first. The second was a well executed lob over stranded Bees ‘keeper Harrison.

At half time the Bees went off behind, but refused to let the heads go down and came out fighting for the second half. The Bees fighting spirit soon showed as Tony Fenton levelled the scores. Shortly after ‘T bone’s’ goal Keith Doe was replaced by myself. Though I tried to chase just about everything down I didn’t win too much although I did force a pretty good stop from the new ‘keeper in the Boro goal.

Barnet were now firmly in control and it wasn’t long before the prolific Tony Fenton put the Bees ahead for the third time. This time the lead lasted for only a matter of seconds. A quick long range effort straight after the restart, beat James, and went in. The Bees players protested that it had hit the bar, but the ref had none of it and Boro were level again.

With just under fifteen minutes left Stevenage were given a great chance. Amidst some Boro pressure the referee felt that Barnet striker Tony Fenton had cleared the ball with his foot in the area. To delight of the Stevenage players, and modest crowd, they were awarded a penalty. The Bees players, Tony in particular argued that he had been pushed, but the referee disagreed and stuck by his decision. The penalty was duly converted sending James the wrong way. Shortly after Stevenage had re-taken the lead I was replaced by Tony who had briefly gone off. The striker soon showed his quality by once again levelling the scores and grabbing his second hat-trick in as many games. With five minutes left the game was poised on a knife edge as both teams went forward in search of the winning goal.

Boro had several attempts, but they were denied each time by some superb goalkeeping by James Harrison. Zero and Barnsley were also keeping it tight at the back with Dazza playing an influential role in the middle. With two minutes to go a good through ball by dazza found Craig, in front of goal. The front man kept his cool and fired the ball firmly past the Stevenage goalkeeper to make it 6-5. Deep in stoppage time Stevenage were desperately looking for an equaliser. However a good tackle and pass by zero led to a break at the other end. Craig C was put through but was denied his hat-trick by a good save. Fortunately for Barnet the ‘keeper failed to hold the ball and parried it into the path of Dazza. With the goal gaping the 20 year old midfielder kept his cool and side-footed the ball into the empty net to secure the win.

Seconds later the ref blew the whistle for full time. The Bees players were ecstatic, the Boro players very much the opposite. Rivalry was then put aside for a group photo, before the players headed off to the dressing room. All in all this was a fabulous display, everyone gave it their all. I think that it’s fair to say that we did the Bees proud on Saturday afternoon. Now roll on the 9^{th March when the first team make it a hat-trick of wins over Stevenage!!}

Barnet: James, Zero, Barnsley, Dazza, Tony, Keith, Craig C, Welshbee (me!)

Unused sub: Robin (GK)

Manager: Buster

Iain Dalziel’s Man of the Match: Zero. He was an absolute rock. Although I think James’ performance in goal deserves a mention. Although as I already said a brilliant all round team performance.

Att: 25 (approx!!)

-Q & A Night With Martin Allen (Oh How Times Change!)-