The summer of 1983 saw the arrival of a number of new players including central defender, Bill Baldry, midfield players, John Margerrison and John Docker and a new striker from Kettering Town, Nicky Evans who had always played well against the Bees and was to go on to become one of the most loved players ever to play for the club. However, they also lost top scorer and player of the year, Colin Barnes who agreed to a one month trial with Torquay United with a view to a permanent transfer for a figure of between £15,000 and £20,000. Barnes had a successful trial with Torquay but the Devon club refused to pay a fee for Barnes but decided to keep him at Plainmoor as a Torquay player, despite the fact that he was registered as a player with Barnet. A protest to the FA failed to achieve anything for the Bees when doubts were raised about Barnes' contract at Barnet. So Barnet lost a key player without gaining any much needed money in return.
The Alliance Premier League also had a new points system with 3points being awarded for an away win and two points for a home win in order to encourage teams to play adventurously away from home.
Barnet's 5th season in the APL started badly with just one point taken from the first four games. However, a 2-0 home win over Worcester with Stewart Atkins scoring twice was followed by a 1-1 draw at Trowbridge in the 1st round, 1st leg Bob Lord Trophy and they gained three points with a 1-0 away win at Bath, Steve Mahoney scoring. New striker, Nicky Evans had missed the opening games through injury and made his Barnet debut in return leg of the Bob Lord Trophy with Trowbridge Town. He scored twice on his debut as Barnet thrashed Trowbridge 10-0 with Steve Ragan scoring 4, Steve Mahoney 3 and Eddie Stein finishing the scoring. Slowly Barnet's league form improved. After losing 2-1 at home to bogey side, Boston, the Bees took 9 points from the next 6 matches including a 4-0 away win at Trowbridge, where Evans scored a hat trick. In the away match at Yeovil the game was abandoned with Barnet winning 1-0 after Steve Ragan damaged a post after colliding with it!!
Soon after in the away match at Scarborough, Barnet lost 1-0 to a goal that never was. Gary Phillips made a save and the ball was cleared but the referee awarded a goal after being signalled by a linesman. Scarborough apologised after the game to Barnet.
Despite these setbacks Barnet's season was improving. Progress was made in the FA Cup with a 5-1 win over Harlow Town in the 4th qualifying round and six straight wins in the league including away wins at Gateshead (3-2), Kettering (1-0) and old rivals, Enfield (1-0) saw the Bees storm up the table.
Barnet drew league side, Bristol Rovers at home in the 1st round of the FA Cup and gave a fine performance drawing 0-0. Barnet almost scored within 90 seconds when Stewart Atkins, put through by Peter Brown had a fine effort saved by the Bristol Rovers keeper, Kite. Gary Phillips too was soon in action pulling off a great save to deny Randall. Atkins and Ragan went close for Barnet and the scores were level at half time. Early in the second half, Phillips saved from Barrett and then Steve Mahoney twice went close for the Bees before John Docker saw a long range effort just go past the post before Stewart Atkins shot narrowly over as the game ended goalless. The Barnet side was; Phillips, Brown, Millett, Baldry, M Pittaway, Stein, Margerrison, Docker, Mahoney, Ragan, Atkins.
Barnet progressed in the FA Trophy too winning 3-1 away at Hayes in the 3rd qualifying round with Steve Mahoney scoring twice and Stewart Atkins on target as well. In the 1st round, Dartford were beaten 3-0, Docker, Margerrison and Evans scoring. However, while the Bees were having success in the cup competitions their league form slumped with three straight defeats against Dagenham, Wealdstone and Altrincham. A 4-1 2nd round FA Trophy win over North Shields was followed by a 2-1 win over Kidderminster in the 3rd round. In the Bob Lord Trophy, Barnet reached the final by defeating Telford 8-2 on aggregate in the semi final. In the final, the Bees sadly lost 2-0 in the first leg at Scarborough and despite a Stewart Atkins goal in the second leg at Underhill, they went down 2-1 on aggregate.
However, Barnet's league form remained inconsistent. Wins over lowly Bangor and Trowbridge were a poor return with defeats at Runcorn, Worcester and Scarborough and there was disappointment when Barnet went out of the FA Trophy at the quarter final stage losing 1-0 at Northwich.
In the league wins over Frickley and Yeovil were followed by defeats against Kettering, Altrincham and Kidderminster as Barnet's league season fizzled out slightly but in the end the Bees finished 9th, by far their best league performance yet in the APL.
|
Players |
Alliance Premier League (APL) |
Bob Lord Trophy (BLT) |
FA Cup |
FA Trophy |
Total |
|
Steve Mahoney |
19 |
9 |
2 |
2 |
32 |
|
Stewart Atkins |
13 |
4 |
1 |
4 |
22 |
|
Nicky Evans |
6 |
4 |
1 |
3 |
14 |
|
Steve Ragan |
3 |
7 |
1 |
1 |
12 |
|
John Margerrison |
3 |
2 |
1 |
6 |
|
|
Chris Kinnear |
2 |
1 |
3 |
||
|
Eddie Stein |
2 |
1 |
3 |
||
|
Peter Brown |
2 |
2 |
|||
|
John Docker |
2 |
2 |
|||
|
Trevor Parker |
2 |
2 |
|||
|
Bill Baldry |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
Ian Fergusson |
1 |
1 |
|
1 |
Maidstone |
42 |
23 |
13 |
6 |
71 |
34 |
70 |
|
2 |
Nuneaton |
42 |
24 |
11 |
7 |
70 |
40 |
69 |
|
3 |
Altrincham |
42 |
23 |
9 |
10 |
64 |
39 |
65 |
|
4 |
Wealdstone |
42 |
21 |
14 |
7 |
75 |
36 |
62 |
|
5 |
Runcorn |
42 |
20 |
13 |
9 |
61 |
45 |
62 |
|
6 |
Bath City |
42 |
17 |
12 |
13 |
60 |
48 |
53 |
|
7 |
Northwich |
42 |
16 |
14 |
12 |
54 |
47 |
51 |
|
8 |
Worcester |
42 |
15 |
13 |
14 |
64 |
55 |
49 |
|
9 |
Barnet |
42 |
16 |
10 |
16 |
55 |
58 |
49 |
|
10 |
Kidderminster |
42 |
14 |
14 |
14 |
54 |
61 |
49 |
|
11 |
Telford |
42 |
17 |
11 |
14 |
50 |
58 |
49 |
|
12 |
Frickley |
42 |
17 |
10 |
15 |
68 |
56 |
48 |
|
13 |
Scarborough |
42 |
14 |
16 |
12 |
52 |
55 |
48 |
|
14 |
Enfield |
42 |
14 |
9 |
19 |
61 |
58 |
43 |
|
15 |
Weymouth |
42 |
13 |
8 |
21 |
54 |
65 |
42 |
|
16 |
Gateshead |
42 |
12 |
13 |
17 |
59 |
73 |
42 |
|
17 |
Boston |
42 |
13 |
12 |
17 |
66 |
80 |
41 |
|
18 |
Dagenham |
42 |
14 |
8 |
20 |
57 |
69 |
40 |
|
19 |
Kettering |
42 |
12 |
9 |
21 |
53 |
67 |
37 |
|
20 |
Yeovil |
42 |
12 |
8 |
22 |
55 |
77 |
35 |
|
21 |
Bangor (R) |
42 |
10 |
6 |
26 |
54 |
82 |
29 |