Barnet started October in 8th place in League Two, only outside the play-offs because of an inferior goal difference to Aldershot. However, a convincing 3-0 home win against struggling Grimsby Town saw the Bees move back into the play-off positions and into 4th pace. Yannick Bolasie proved too much of a handful for the Mariners, having a big hand in both the first two goals, which saw the home side 2-0 up within the first 20 minutes though a John O’Flynn penalty and a goal from Albert Adomah. Barnet should have won even more convincingly, but had to be satisfied with scoring just once more, a superb long range strike by Bolasie completing the scoring.
In midweek, the Bees travelled to South London to play Charlton Athletic in the 2nd round of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy. The Bees started brightly and went ahead early on through an opportunist goal by John O’Flynn, but unluckily found themselves 2-1 down at half time. Barnet started the second half well and a fine Bolasie shot forced a fine save from the Charlton keeper to stop Barnet drawing level but from that moment the League One side took control winning 4-1 with ex Bee, Nicky Bailey scoring a superb goal for Charlton.
However, Barnet away form was starting to become of some concern. Consecutive away defeats at Rochdale and Burton Albion saw Barnet drop out of the play-offs, although a 3-0 win over bottom club, Darlington at Underhill saw the Bees jump to 6th. In truth, Barnet struggled for an hour against a very poor die before an Ismail Yakubu header put the Bees in front and further goals by Nicky Deverdics and Yannick Bolasie sealed the three points for the Bees. However, it was to prove the last time that Barnet were in the play-off positions for the rest of the season.
The following season, the Bees lost their fourth consecutive away league match, going down 1-0 at Chesterfield. However, the next three league fixtures promised a reasonable haul of points with home fixtures against Hereford and Port vale, both winnable game and a midweek away fixture at Cheltenham, struggling near the foot of the table. However, Barnet took just two points from the three matches; the two home fixtures ending goalless and the Bees going down to a humiliating 5-1 defeat at Cheltenham, having gone 1-0 up through John O’Flynn. In that match, 17 year old, Kofi Lockhart-Adams, came on as a substitute for Barnet and became their youngest ever player.
In between, Darlington returned to Underhill for a 1st round, FA Cup tie and were seen off; John O’Flynn scoring twice and Micah Hyde scoring his first ever goal for Barnet in a slightly unconvincing 3-1 win.
The poor run of league results saw the Bees slump to 11th, though they were, surprisingly, only two pints off of the play-offs. The last Saturday in November saw the Bees travel to Accrington Stanley in the 2nd round of the FA Cup. In an eventful match, Accrington’s John Miles was sent off for stamping on Ismail Yakubu and the Bees came back twice from behind to earn a replay with a 2-2 draw, Yakubu and John O’Flynn scoring for the Bees, the latter’s goal, a penalty in the 6th minute of time added on. The 3rd round draw held the prospect of a home tie against Gillingham for the winners of the replay.
At the end of the month, manager, Ian Hendon signed three players on loan deals; Calum Butcher, an 18 year old centre back from Tottenham, striker, Craig McAllister from Exeter City and former Underhill favourite, Dean Sinclair from Charlton Athletic. Barnet needed to get back to winning ways at home and do something about their declining away from if they were to have any chance of getting to the play-offs.
In the next article, we will look at how Barnet fared in December and January.