A season review in two parts. A little something to pass the time as we wait for signings to appear and pre-season to begin, neither too far away with start times getting earlier every year.
This time last year there was a fair bit of scepticism of the signings brought in by Dean Brennan, if you believed what most fans said from other clubs of our new signings then they were pretty much all to be written off, what they do in a Barnet shirt is what counts for us, nothing more.
Pre-season itself was a mixed bag, some impressive performances and players already making a claim for stuffing those comments back down the throats. Maybe the first interesting moment came in the final pre-season friendly, a 2-1 loss to a St Albans side that would reach the end of the season National League South play-off final.
Not alarming from the result, do they matter? It’s fitness, shape, tactical awareness and sharpness for players and managers alike, but those losing their minds because Brennan decided upon shifting the line up around was pretty extreme to say the least, a nothing game compared to the season opener seven days away.
Seven days later all washed away after an opening day win, a stunner from Ephron Mason-Clark, a debut goal from Nicke Kabamba and a clean sheet, Bees off to a flyer.
However, the murmurs returned a week later, 2-0 up against the run of play away to Gateshead were pegged back to 2-2, ‘not good enough’, ‘should have buried them’, blah, blah, blah, not many were to win in the North East all season, some seemingly believing after two games forgetting what had previously happened over the last nine month season and the magic wand waved to disappear all before them.
Wins at Yeovil and home to Woking saw the Bees top the table before a Friday night trip to Chesterfield, expectations maybe cranked up way beyond where they should have been before the end of August.
Before the trip north Mason-Clark departed for Peterborough to have a stellar season there, that loss disrupted the pattern of the team more than most will realise over the course of the coming months, the side was built around Ephron and the tactical difference needed to change things around was huge.
The result shows a 3-1 win for the Spireites, however at 2-1 Dale Gorman strikes the post, the ball cannoning out for a throw in. Chesterfield break from said throw in and a minute later instead of being 2-2 it’s 3-1 but we actually went toe to toe with a side expected to be top three and weren’t disgraced, who was this Barnet FC to witness?
The test was then to come as they were all season, a first defeat what would be the reaction? Simple, back on the saddle and go again, fellow early pacesetters Eastleigh dispatched 3-1 in front of the BT cameras, a bang on Sean Shields performance, the smoothest of Rob Hall volleys capping the win, both however to find this was their limelight moment, August six played and just one defeat.
September was a reminder of a work in progress and not to get in front of ourselves, a humbling defeat at Aldershot was followed by new boys Dorking Wanderers ‘doing a job on us’, the first team to stifle Gorman and with it an unease in the way we played, a good point at Solihull Moors who were expected to challenge was felt to be one lost, chances created but not finished.
The month finished in kamikaze fashion in Essex as Barnet scored four away from home but managed to lose when easier to win. Four goals shared in the opening 25 minutes, 4-4 with 19 minutes to play, ex-Bee Josh Walker nicked the win in the 93rd minute, neither side able to defend, the craziest game to watch surely?
October. Hold my beer. And we’ll come to that part shortly! It began with shipping another five goals to a York side who weeks later would sack their manager and spend a majority of the season trying to avoid an instant return to the National League North.
Pressure was beginning to increase a little with so many goals conceded, despite a 4-3 midweek win over Maidstone it should have been more convincing, defensive mindset appeared to be lost in the ether.
Now if you think Dagenham away was crazy we went one better at Wrexham! We scored five this time but let them put seven in the net for reply. 2-1 up at one stage, a goal of the season contender from Idris Kanu but another defeat which saw the Bees in 14th and a stark reminder of where we possibly should be come the end of April.
Stick was flying from all quarters with the lack of defensive nous, we weren’t going to outscore every team every game like a previous Barnet team was able to do, something had to give.
The remainder of the month was unbeaten, FA Cup progress over a high flying Weston Super Mare with a clean sheet, a first Marvin Armstrong goal saw off Maidenhead at The Hive before a midweek trip to play-off chasing Bromley.
A Bees dominated first half couldn’t make the breakthrough, Bromley did with 24 minutes to play, but even at one down I had a sense we weren’t done. Time ticked away, then came the equaliser from a Kanu curler and got what we deserved.
Well, we got more than that in the 90th minute as Harry Pritchard put the Bees into the lead. We got even more than that a minute later, instead of heading for the corner flag to kill time Pritch let fly from 30 yards to really rub salt in the wounds, three goals in the space of six minutes and the home ends emptying quicker than smacking the bottom of a Heinz ketchup glass bottle.
The end of the month brought a little frustration, a stubborn Scunthorpe Utd side led by former Bee Michael Nelson taking a Friday night point back to Humberside, Barnet sitting outside the play-off places on goal difference only and looking up not down.
November was clearly the defining month of the season. Southend Utd the Tuesday visitors on the first day and taking apart the Bees with ease, the Essex well in form at the time and questions that lingered from those Dagenham and Wrexham defeats were shouted louder.
There were ‘Brennan out’ supporters, there was a lot of noise around the manager not knowing what he was doing, a forgetful reminder that reason Barnet FC were Barnet FC at this particular point was down to the constant change of manager in a cycle that was never breaking, a forgetfulness the manager was at this level for only the second time, mistakes were going to be made, a point made by Brennan himself back in July, short memories.
A limped to FA Cup draw with high flying Chelmsford also didn’t do too many favours, but the tide had to turn and it did, but in a way that surely no one could imagine.
Up to the North West twice inside five days, two wins, two goals, two clean sheets, another goal of the season contender from Kanu in the second of those games at Oldham put the Bees back into the play-off places once again.
That was followed up by a Monday night FA Cup replay win at Chelmsford, Kanu the match winner again with the Bees down to 10, a sign of the togetherness coming right with the matchwinner turning down international duty to want to play in this game instead.
Another clean sheet, the fourth in a row, and an Armstrong winner saw off Torquay, a narrow FA Cup defeat to League One Accrington was the only loss of the month, Barnet in the play-off places that they wouldn’t drop out of for the rest of the season as we headed into December and the end of the year.
The noisy neighbours couldn’t deal with the early kick off and the Bees swarmed all over the Stones to maintain their top seven position. The weather was the only thing stopping what appeared to be a relentless juggernaut powering through the season as if it was customary for Barnet to do so.
17 days passed between games thanks to the weather, a rusty Bees squeezed past Plymouth Parkway in the FA Trophy, Dan Powell reminding everyone he was still at the club with the only goal in the final minute, very timely as we shall see past the turn of the year.
Another BT Sport game, another win, the local rivals up the road in Boreham Wood sent on their way, Ryan De Havilland with a very fitting winner in the 95th minute, my first sighting of referee Daniel Middleton and not covering himself in glory either.
A six point gap inside those play-offs as 2022 ended, already banishing memories of what had gone on before for a couple of years, attendances starting to slightly increase too, the team now with just one defeat in its last nine matches, things were really starting to come together but would it continue as 2023 arrived? Stay tuned……..