Barnet in the League Cup Part 3

In the 2^nd round, Barnet were drawn at home to Plymouth Argyle and gave another fine performance, winning 2-1 with goals from Simon King and Guiliano Grazioli to go through to the 3^rd round of the League Cup for the first time in the club's history. The draw for the 3^rd round ensured that whatever the outcome, October 26^th 2005 would be one of the highlights of Barnet's history as the club was drawn away to play mighty Manchester United at Old Trafford.

On the day, the occasion started badly for the Bees. Travel problems meant that many fans had still not arrived when the game started and with only a few minutes gone, referee Richard Beeby made the decision that was to completely alter the course of the game for barnet when he sent keeper, Ross Flitney off for handling the ball outside the penalty area. For poor Louis Soares, it meant that his day was ruined as he was the unlucky player to be substituted so that Scott Tynan could replace Flitney in goal. Manchester United scored from the free kick that followed the sending off and Barnet had another piece of bad luck when Guiliano Grazioli scored an equaliser only for the goal to be ruled out by Beeby when the goal appeared to be a perfectly good one. In the end, United won 4-1 but the Barnet fans sang throughout the game and did the players proud and they erupted when Dean Sinclair scored the only Barnet goal. The Barnet side that day was; Flitney, Hendon, Yakubu, King, Gross, Soares (Tynan), Sinclair, Bailey, Lee (Batt), Strevens, Grazioli (Hatch)

The following season, 2006/07, was the last season to date that Barnet have got past the first round. In the 1^st round, they were drawn to play Cardiff City, as now in the Championship, at Ninian Park and were expected to loose. However, the Bees, with Joe Devera making his full debut for the club at right back, gave a superb performance and won comfortably 2-0 with both goals coming from Tresor Kandol, one in each half. The Barnet line up was; Flitney, Devera, Charles, Warhurst, Gross, Cogan, Sinclair, Bailey, Puncheon (Nicolau), Kandol, Vieira (Norville).

The 2^nd round saw a trip to another Championship side, but this was a more glamorous tie as Barnet were drawn to play Leeds United at Elland Road. Barnet gave a good account of themselves and probably should have been awarded a penalty but in the end lost 3-1 with Magno Vieira scoring the Bees' goal.

In the last two seasons, Barnet have failed to make it past the 1^st round and in both matches they have been reduced to 10 men after having a player red carded. In 2007, they lost 5-2 at Norwich City after Neal Bishop was sent off and Norwich had gone 5-0 up by halt time. The Bees pulled back two goals in the second half through Jason Puncheon and Adam Birchall.

Last season, 2008/09, Barnet went out at the same stage, losing 4-0 to Brighton and had Kenny Gillet sent off. The match at Watford tomorrow night is the first Carling Cup tie at Underhill since 2005 when the Bees beat Plymouth and is only the second home tie since the Bees returned to the league in 2005. Barnet have had a good record against Championship clubs in the Carling Cup and FA Cup in recent seasons, so let's hope that the Bees can get past the 1^st round this season and maybe get through to the 3^rd round again and get drawn against one of the big Premiership clubs. It's time we had a good cup run.