Bees miss out on play-off spot

Positives still from an unbeaten week

Now I would normally put a match round up like this on my main site, that being www.footballwriting.co.uk behind a paywall, but I think with this being the third Barnet game in a row for me and a fourth to come next Tuesday I think they’ve seen enough!

Let’s be honest we all thought Scunthorpe at home was going to be another three points, we were all eyeing up the play-off spot to be occupied for a few hours and generally a few pats on the back afterwards.

But football always has a way of producing not what you expect on any given day and just maybe we were getting ahead of ourselves. Easy to do after a superb performance to dismantle Bromley at Hayes Lane on Tuesday night and make it three unbeaten as the corner seems to be turning once again.

Three games in seven days is a big ask, but non-league players get on with it unlike the moaning and groaning that comes from those who earn over £100K per week.

I saw the performance described as poor; the players described as poor, sorry not for me. Leggy yes, below the standards we strive for maybe, frustrating absolutely, but we weren’t poor. The Iron came for a draw and we looked a little short on ways to break them down.

The first half there wasn’t a lot to choose between the two sides, the visitors content to sit in. There were some half chances for the Bees but the half really failed to get going and I wasn’t surprised to see us change the formation at half time to go three at the back as we did to start off with at Bromley.

It certainly gave us a bit more attacking intent to begin with, although it took a world class save from Laurie Walker to keep the scores level just before the hour mark, if you haven’t seen it then check out the highlights to see how good it was.

Just as it looked like the Bees were getting on top of things, a sloppy pass from Harry Pritchard was cut out by the Iron midfield, away they went and Rob Apter put the visitors in front with 12 minutes to play.

That lead lasted all of four minutes as that man Pritchard was on the scoresheet once again with a fine placed finish from 20 yards out to bring the scores level again.

Five minutes later I thought the same player had won it for Barnet, a 40 yard lob after seeing the keeper off his line resulted in the custodian just about getting back to tip the ball onto the bar and over. The final effort for the home side came in stoppage time from a corner, Danny Collinge heading over a glorious opportunity that would have meant nine points from nine to end the month.

The performance was flat, it did seem one game too many although Scunny were in the same boat in terms of games played, they just weren’t there for very much if I’m honest and believe they’ve a heck of a lot to do to avoid finishing close to that bottom four.

I’m not convinced starting as a four at the back worked out for us, we looked better going in as a three second half. The passing was sloppy at times, rushed and for the sake of it instead of looking after the ball, but for me that comes from the leggyness we looked very much like.

Some will ask why not more changes to combat that, maybe one or two more were needed, hindsight is a wonderful thing at time. There were a couple that stood out for me, Collinge I thought was spot on, Jerome Okimo gets dug out every week but for a 34-year-old watch how many times he loses a duel in the air, you’ll have fingers left to count every week, reliable, gets shifted about from centre half to left back, just gets on with it.

Whilst Nicke Kabamba hasn’t found the net in the last two games he’s put a massive shift in for the team but and this is where Tony needs to start reading the post if he’s skipped over the first part, he needs a bloody rest!

Whilst I agreed with the chairman’s assessment last Saturday, by Wednesday I agreed with Dean. Honestly, Tony, we’re in with a good shot of a decent finish this season but we run Nicke into the ground and we’ll find ourselves joining Wealdstone on the slide.

What we need to find is someone who doesn’t mind sitting on the bench, doesn’t cost a lot in wages, will run Nicke hard but understand this guy is our first choice, a few 60–70-minute games will do him the world of good, so come on be sensible here TK.

Which brings me to my next point of sensible, ball boys. Now while we appear to be improving things slowly again, this is getting to the point of ridiculous. Nick Patel has offered to the club for his wife’s local school Park High to provide four ball collecting persons for eight home games out of his own pocket, not to make himself look or feel good, but to provide a simple service that I hear cries for behind me every single game. There is no expense to the club at all and he even offered to pay for their food as well, so come on Barnet FC, explain to us all why we can’t do that?

I wouldn’t be surprised to see either one of our own players or a visiting one getting injured climbing over a barrier to retrieve a ball from the open end and even the North Stand end, it’s embarrassing!

If there’s a good reason why we can’t or won’t take up the generous offer then tells us fans why because none of us understand, I’ve heard grown-ups behind me offering to go and stand there, please just sort it out, I think we’ve had enough reasons already this season to be called a laughing stock, there’s no need to extend it.

The final sensible point, the bar. The Downhill Second Half boys picked up on it as well, pre pour some pints and get in front of yourself. We’re not talking 50 plus, but some to slow the queues both before the game and during half time, once again we’re losing money, it’s a quick fix and very simple and money in the pocket, we’ve started some momentum, listen to the people it affects though.

Enough of the grumbling you’ve come here to read the good stuff so two points off the play-offs after the weekend’s games, four games unbeaten, 7 pts from 3 games in 7 days is not too shabby at all, I spoke to a few of the players afterwards who were disappointed at not winning on Friday, that’s new levels for us, last season they sloped off quickly and some without a care, different breed this year, goal scoring midfielders too, we’ve not seen that like for a while.

Fix that one on the pitch Tony and fix that one or two off the pitch Tony and we’re looking more and more a football club again as time ticks on, well until the next thing crops up……..