A look back at season 2008/09
Last updated : 29 May 2009 By Jaybee
Barnet entered October in 20th place after the win at Grimsby and the month started well with the Bees gaining their first home win, defeating Accrington 2-1 at Underhill. John O'Flynn scored after 29 seconds, his first goal for Barnet. However, O'Flynn saw a second half penalty saved, only for Ismail Yakubu to score from the resulting corner to give the Bees their first win in front of their own fans. The win moved the Bees level on points with Accrington and with Port Vale.
The following week, the Bees travelled to Dagenham, where they had already lost in the JPT, and lost again, this time by 2-0. However, the following Saturday, Barnet won their second away win of the season winning 4-3 at Rotherham despite playing much of the game with 10 men after the sending off of Max Porter. Cliff Akurang scored twice, Albert Adomah and Luke Medley scored a goal apiece, the latter's goal his first for the Bees and Lee Harrison saved the penalty that followed Porter's sending off.
The win at Rotherham to0k Barnet up to 19th and they had now taken 9 points from the last 5 matches. Barnet were unlucky not to take all three points from the home match with league leaders, Wycombe, the following Tuesday. Nicky Deverdics scored his first goal for the club in a 1-1 draw. Even so, it extended the run to 10 pints from 6 matches. Michael Townsend, a young centre back, made his first appearnce for Barnet on loan from Cheltenham Town.
Barnet lost their next match at home to rapidly improving, Exeter going down 1-0 at Underhill. The following Tuesday, two John O'Flynn goals gave Barnet an excellent 2-2 draw at Shrewsbury, though at one time, Barnet had led 2-0. At the end of October, Barnet were placed 19th. On the Saturday, the Bees gained another fine away draw at Bradford City. Albert Adomah, Nicky Nicolau and John 'Flynn scoring in a match many thought the Bees deserved to win. However, the rest of November was a bad month for the Bees.
Barnet were drawn t face fellow League Two side, Rochdale in the 1st round of the FA Cup, at Underhill. In a poor match, the game ended 1-1, Ismail Yakubu scoring for the Bees who lost Joe Devera through injury. Devera was out for two months. The following week, Barnet hit rock bottom being thrashed 4-0 by Notts County at Underhill. County, who started the day only two points above Barnet, were 4 up by half time following a totally inept Barnet performance. Abu Ogogo, on loan from Arsenal and Ryan Burge a short term signing from Cheltenham made their debuts. Burge, who came on as a substitute never made another appearance for the Bees.
There were calls for manager, Paul Fairclough to resign after the match, but Barnet gave a feisty performance in the midweek cup replay at Rochdale, but after going 2-0 up through goals from Adomah and O'Flynn, the home side recovered to win 3-2 after extra time. However, there was some improvement in the performance.
The team, at this point, seemed to be playing much better away from home and this was emphasised with another poor performance at home with the Bees going down 3-1 at home to Macclesfield in a game Barnet could have, and probably, should have won. John O'Flynn scored the Barnet goal in a match where the home defence leaked again. Again, there was discontent amongst the Barnet fans with many fans wanting Fairclough to be sacked.
The month of November ended with a dull 0-0 away draw at Port Vale which left Barnet in 20th place, only the three clubs with points deductions and Grimsby Town below them. After a promising run during September and October, Barnet had taken just 3 points from the previous 6 matches, all of them in away matches. The win over Accrington remained Barnet's only home win in 9 attempts, 6 of them ending in defeats. Surely, December would bring better results and an upturn in the Bees' fortunes.
