After finishing in 9th place, the previous season the Bees were hopeful that this could be the season that they could challenge for the newly renamed Gola League. During the summer, Fry signed former Watford defender, Ian Bolton and Borehamwood players, Andy Goodchild and Sean Baker, while Steve Brinkman and Steve Turner re-joined the club. However, Barnet started off the season in disappointing fashion with a 1-0 defeat at home to Telford United and then lost their next match at Boston. However, things picked up with two wins in their next two matches. Peter Brown and Nicky Evans scored in a 2-1 win at Worcester and then Barnet won their first home win of the season against deadly rivals Enfield, goals from Evans, Trevor Parker and Stewart Atkins ensuring a 3-2 win over their North London neighbours.
The Bees good form continued for a while with an away draw at Scarborough and a draw at home to Nuneaton followed by a 1-0 home win over Altrincham with Stewart Atkins scoring the only goal. However, this was followed by away defeats at Maidstone and Weymouth. However, Barnet's form at this stage of the season was generally good and after two draws against Enfield and Northwich, Barnet won three games in a row scoring 4 goals each time. Nicky Evans and Steve Mahoney scored two apiece as Barnet beat Kettering 4-2 at the end of October. The following Saturday, Barnet travelled to Kidderminster and won 4-1, Mahoney scoring a hat trick. Mahoney made it 7 goals in three matches after scoring twice in a 4-1 home win over Yeovil Town the following Saturday. Meanwhile, keeper Gary Phillips who had made over 200 appearances for the Bees was sold to Brentford for £5,000. He was replaced by Steve Waller who arrived from Enfield.
This fine run came to and end away at Frickley the following Saturday with a 3-1 defeat, but the following Saturday, Mahoney took his total of goals so far to 10 in a 3-1 home win over Boston in the 4th Qualifying Round of the FA Cup. Stewart Atkins and Ian Fergusson also scored.
However, the Bees league form began to falter at this point. Barnet won just one more league game up to the end of 1985, a 2-1 win at Runcorn and lost six out of eight league matches. Barnet were also knocked out of the Bob Lord Trophy losing 2-0 at home to Maidstone United and losing 3-0 away at Plymouth Argyle in the 1st round of the FA Cup.
Then, out of the blue, manager, Barry Fry was offered the job of managing Gola League rivals, Maidstone and to the surprise of everyone he accepted their offer and left Underhill.
Fry's replacement was former Barnet player, Roger Thompson who had been coaching in America. He took over at Underhill in January 1985 and he was quickly active in the transfer market signing former Tottenham defender, Don McAllister, David Perace from Harrow Borough and Steve O'Neill from Finchley. Stewart Atkins and Steve Turner left the club.
Barnet's early form under the new manager was mixed. Barnet started the new year with a much awaited league victory, winning 2-1 away at Wealdstone with goals from Steve Mahoney and Peter Brown. However, they were to play only one more league game until March, a 4-2 home defeat against Kidderminster, due to bad weather and involvement in the FA Trophy.
Barnet came through the 1st round of the FA Trophy with a 3-2 replay win over Dagenham at Underhill, having drawn 3-3 at Victoria Road. In the next round, an Ian Fergusson penalty was enough to dispose of Gretna at Underhill. In the next round, Barnet were drawn away at Runcorn and after three draws, Barnet finally crashed out of the tournament, losing 4-0.
Barnet's league form seemed to have suffered badly from the high number of cup matches and a heavy 4-0 defeat at Kettering in the beginning of March was followed by further defeats at Yeovil and Barrow. By the end of the month, Barnet had taken just 1 point from 5 Gola League matches since the win at Wealdstone at the turn of the year and the winter postponements meant that league matches were now coming thick and fast as Barnet were dragged into yet another relegation battle.
April improved as three league draws were followed by Barnet's first league win in over three months. An own goal gave them a 1-0 home win over Boston. This was the first of five consecutive home wins and Barnet won three and drew one, including a 4-0 win over barrow and an amazing 7-0 win over champions elect, Wealdstone. Nicky Evans scored 4 goals and Steve Mahoney grabbed a hat trick as Barnet completed the double over their North London rivals. Mahoney then scored twice in three away matches as the Bees won 2-0 at Gateshead and by the same score at Altrincham with a goalless draw at Dagenham in between. Barnet had won 6 and drawn 2 from 8 matches and even though they lost the last match of the season, 2-0 at Northwich, this rich run of form meant that Barnet were able to climb out of trouble and finish in relative mid-table safety in 15th place. Furthermore, optimism for the following season was high.
Barnet also had a new chairman, Stan Flashman replacing the outgoing Tom Hill. Thompson was rewarded with a new two year contract.
|
Goals |
Gola League |
FA Cup |
FA Trophy |
Total |
|
Steve Mahoney |
19 |
3 |
1 |
23 |
|
Nicky Evans |
13 |
13 |
||
|
Stewart Atkins |
4 |
1 |
5 |
|
|
Trevor Parker |
4 |
4 |
||
|
Steve Ragan |
2 |
2 |
4 |
|
|
Duncan Hardy |
4 |
4 |
||
|
Ian Fergusson |
2 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
|
John Margerrison |
2 |
1 |
3 |
|
|
David Pearce |
3 |
3 |
||
|
Peter Brown |
3 |
3 |
||
|
Eddie Stein |
1 |
1 |
2 |
|
|
Bill Baldry |
1 |
1 |
|
1 |
Wealdstone |
42 |
20 |
10 |
12 |
64 |
54 |
62 |
|
2 |
Nuneaton |
42 |
19 |
14 |
9 |
85 |
53 |
58 |
|
3 |
Dartford |
42 |
17 |
13 |
12 |
57 |
48 |
57 |
|
4 |
Bath City |
42 |
21 |
9 |
12 |
52 |
49 |
57 |
|
5 |
Altrincham |
42 |
21 |
6 |
15 |
63 |
47 |
56 |
|
6 |
Scarborough |
42 |
17 |
13 |
12 |
69 |
62 |
54 |
|
7 |
Enfield |
42 |
17 |
13 |
12 |
84 |
61 |
53 |
|
8 |
Kidderminster |
42 |
17 |
8 |
17 |
79 |
77 |
51 |
|
9 |
Northwich |
42 |
16 |
11 |
15 |
50 |
46 |
50 |
|
10 |
Telford |
42 |
15 |
14 |
13 |
59 |
54 |
49 |
|
11 |
Frickley |
42 |
18 |
7 |
17 |
65 |
71 |
49 |
|
12 |
Kettering |
42 |
15 |
12 |
15 |
68 |
59 |
48 |
|
13 |
Maidstone |
42 |
15 |
13 |
14 |
58 |
51 |
48 |
|
14 |
Runcorn |
42 |
13 |
15 |
14 |
48 |
47 |
48 |
|
15 |
Barnet |
42 |
15 |
11 |
16 |
59 |
52 |
47 |
|
16 |
Weymouth |
42 |
15 |
13 |
14 |
70 |
66 |
45 |
|
17 |
Boston |
42 |
15 |
10 |
17 |
69 |
69 |
45 |
|
18 |
Barrow |
42 |
11 |
16 |
15 |
47 |
57 |
43 |
|
19 |
Dagenham |
42 |
13 |
10 |
19 |
47 |
61 |
41 |
|
20 |
Worcester |
42 |
12 |
9 |
21 |
55 |
84 |
38 |
|
21 |
Gateshead |
42 |
9 |
12 |
21 |
51 |
82 |
33 * |
|
22 |
Yeovil Town |
42 |
6 |
11 |
25 |
44 |
87 |
25 |