So Barry Fry and the Barnet players now looked forward to their first ever season in the Football League having won promotion from the Conference to the Fourth Division. Fry turned down the offer of a job at Sheffield Wednesday and had been linked with posts at Aston Villa, Luton, Chelsea, Notts County and Birmingham. However, having tried for so long to get Barnet into the league, the Bees’ manager wasn’t about to jump ship now.
There was some sadness tinged with the joy of promotion however. Influential midfield player, Kevin Durham tragically died of a heart attack whilst on holiday in Spain. The new clubhouse was later called the Durham Suite after him. Paul Richardson was sold to Boston United. The midfield player had agreed a compensation deal having been forced to quit league football earlier in his career so was unable to play in the league.
Fry kept most of hid promotion squad and added four players to strengthen the club’s first ever assault on Division 4. Former Barnet player, Carl Hoddle, brother of England Star, Glenn, re-joined the club from Orient, Full back Dominic Naylor joined from Watford and midfield player, Rob Johnson joined from Leicester City. Fry’s most important signing was that of Altrincham winger, Paul Showler, a policeman, who had always caused the Bees’ a great deal of trouble when the two teams had met in the Conference.
Barry Fry was confident that Barnet’s attacking style of play would make them a force in league football, so it came as a shock when Crewe Alexandra came to Underhill on the first day of the season and won 7-4, the Bees’ having taken the lead within five minutes, through Gary Bull who, at least, had the consolation of scoring Barnet’s first ever league goal. The Barnet side in their first ever league match was: Phillips, Blackford, Cooper (Stein), Horton, Bodley (Murphy), Johnson, Showler, Carter, Bull, Lowe, Evans.
And the goals kept coming thick and fast in the next game, Barnet’s inaugural League Cup match against Brentford. In the first leg at Underhill, Barnet again took the lead early, through Nicky Evans, but then found themselves 2-1 down to the ‘other Bees’. However, before half time, the home side had drawn level through Mark Carter. Within five minutes of the re-start, goals from Evans and Gary Bull had given Barnet a 4-2 lead. Brentford reduced the arrears but then 10 minutes from time Bull scored his second to make the score 5-3. However, Brentford then laid siege to the Barnet goal and the match ended 5-5 with Brentford’s equalizer coming in the 5th minute of injury time. The team that night was: Berryman, Blackford, Naylor, Horton (Lynch), Howell, Johnson, Poole, Carter, Bull, Evans, Hoddle. In the second leg at Griffin Park, Brentford won 3-1 to go through 8-6 on aggregate.
In between the two League Cup matches, Barnet won their first League match with Mark Carter and Gary Bull scoring in a 2-1 win at Mansfield. Barnet went into the transfer market to sign Enfield goalkeeper, Andy Pape as replacement for Gary Phillips who was badly injured in the defeat at Brentford.
The win at Field Mill sparked off a tremendous run in the league. A 1-0 home win over Hereford, Roger Willis scoring the only goal, was followed by a stunning 6-0 win at Lincoln with Willis, Evans, Bull (2) and Frank Murphy, plus an own goal accounting for the Bees’ goals. A defeat at Walsall in early October proved very much an exception in a run that saw the Bees win 9, draw 2 and lose just 1 league match since the opening day defeat against Crewe. Amongst their victims were Cardiff (3-1) and Blackpool (3-0) both at Underhill and a stunning 4-0 away win at Scarborough. The win against Blackpool, at the time Division 4 league leaders was particularly impressive and drew a gate of over 5,000.
A 1-0 defeat away at Wrexham at the beginning of November was followed by a 4-2 win at home to Carlisle and after another convincing home win by 3-0 at home to Halifax Town, Barnet stood proudly on top of Division Four.
The following Saturday, saw the club progress through the 1st round of the FA Cup with an emphatic 5-0 over Western League side, Tiverton. This was followed by a slight hiccup in the league as the Bees lost two consecutive matches; 1-0 at Rochdale where the home side employed tactics designed to kick the Barnet players out of their stride and the Bees had a perfectly good goal disallowed and a 2-1 home defeat by Chesterfield.
The 2nd round of the FA Cup saw the Bees take a nostalgic trip to Southbury Road to meet old local rivals, Enfield, who had now slipped down to the Isthmian League. The game, shown on Match Of The Day saw the Bees win comfortably 4-1 with Mark Carter scoring a hat trick.
Two weeks later, Mansfield Town, the new Division Four leaders, arrived at Underhill and were seen off 2-0 with substitutes, Paul Showler and Harry Willis scoring the Bees’ goals. Midfield players, Gary Poole and Kenny Lowe were particularly outstanding for the Bees.
Unfortunately, following this fine win, Barnet’s form started to become somewhat patchy. A poor Christmas return of just one point from two matches was followed by a 1-0 home win over Lincoln City, Bull scoring and the club then went out of the FA Cup at Charlton Athletic, giving a rather disappointing performance and going down 3-1 on the day with just a Mark Carter goal to show for it.
A draw at struggling Maidstone was followed by a heavy 5-2 home defeat by Rotherham with both Duncan Horton and Carl Hoddle sent off. Results, if not form, picked up a little with a 1-0 win at crisis club, Aldershot thanks to a spectacular goal from Carl Hoddle and then a 5-1 home win over Scarborough which greatly flattered the hosts. A 3-2 win in the return fixture with Maidstone was the only success in the next four matches as Barnet lost three successive away matches to Chesterfield, Blackpool and Rotherham.
Barry Fry was looking to strengthen the side but after agreeing deals with Peterborough for Ken Charlery and Paul Grainger, chairman, Stan Flashman refused to finance the deals. However, Fry was able to sign defender, Dave Barnett from Kidderminster and took Steve Morrow from Arsenal and Stuart Nethercott from Tottenham on loan.
Barnet gained a comfortable 5-0 home win over crisis club, Aldershot with Carter and Bull scoring twice, but within weeks, Aldershot went into liquidation and were expelled from the league, meaning that all their results were expunged and the Bees lost six points gained from home and away wins over the Shots
It was getting clear at this point that Barnet would find it difficult to make one of the three automatic promotion places and that their best hope was a play-off place, still a commendable feet for a club in their first ever football league season. Promotion contenders, Burnley defeated the Bees 3-0 at Turf Moor, before Barnet bounced back with a 3-1 win at Carlisle and a 2-0 home win over Wrexham.
However, Barnet’s form was rather patchy during the run in to the season. Defeat at Halifax was followed by a creditable goalless draw at home to Burnley and a 3-0 home win over Rochdale, but a very disappointing 1-0 defeat at struggling, Doncaster Rovers left the Bees with work still to do to make the play-offs.
April started brightly for Barnet with seven points from three matches. Mark Carter scored twice in a convincing 3-0 home win over Northampton and after a 1-1 draw at Scunthorpe, goals from Carter and Derek Payne gave Barnet a 2-0 home win over Gillingham.
However, defeats at Cardiff and at home to Walsall left the Bees needing a win at York city and for results to go kindly elsewhere if they were to make the play-offs. It looked extremely unlikely when the home side went ahead on 55 minutes, but two goals from Mark Carter and one apiece for Gary Bull and Roger Willis gave the Bees a 4-1 win and when, three days later, Rochdale lost to champions, Burnley, Barnet scraped into 7th place and the play-offs.
In the play-offs, Barnet played Blackpool who had finished in 4th place. In the first leg, at Underhill, the Bees completely outplayed their opponents but an unbeatable performance by the Blackpool goalkeeper and the woodwork meant that Barnet had only a single, Mark Carter goal to show for it as the Bees won 1-0.
After the match, Barnet chairman, Stan Flashman was reported as saying that the team was ‘a disgrace’ and that he had sacked manager, Barry Fry but it all blew over with Flashman denying that anything had taken place.
Unfortunately, Blackpool won the second leg 2-0 to win 2-1 on aggregate despite a brave performance by Barnet who attacked for long spells in the game and the Bees had to try again next season for another tilt at promotion.
The Barnet side in the two play-off matches with Blackpool was; Pape, Poole, Cooper, Bodley, Howell, Horton, Hunt, Carter, Bull, Hoddle, Showler. Subs: Willis, Payne.
GOALSCORERS
|
|
League |
FA Cup |
League Cup |
Autoglass Trophy |
Total |
|
Gary Bull |
21 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
27 |
|
Mark Carter |
19 |
5 |
2 |
5 |
31 |
|
Roger Willis |
12 |
|
|
1 |
13 |
|
Paul Showler |
7 |
1 |
|
|
8 |
|
Frank Murphy |
5 |
|
|
1 |
6 |
|
Nicky Evans |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
|
Duncan Horton |
3 |
|
|
|
3 |
|
David Howell |
3 |
|
|
|
3 |
|
Kenny Lowe |
3 |
|
|
|
3 |
|
Gary Poole |
2 |
|
|
1 |
3 |
|
Mick Bodley |
1 |
|
|
|
1 |
|
Geoff Cooper |
1 |
|
|
|
1 |
|
Dominic Naylor |
|
1 |
|
|
1 |
|
Derek Payne |
1 |
|
|
|
1 |
|
Paul Wilson |
1 |
|
|
|
1 |
|
0g |
1 |
|
|
1 |
2 |
|
|
|
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
PTS |
|
1 |
BURNLEY |
42 |
25 |
8 |
9 |
79 |
43 |
83 |
|
2 |
ROTHERHAM |
42 |
22 |
11 |
9 |
70 |
37 |
77 |
|
3 |
MANSFIELD |
42 |
23 |
8 |
11 |
75 |
53 |
77 |
|
4 |
BLACKPOOL |
42 |
22 |
10 |
10 |
71 |
45 |
76 |
|
5 |
Scunthorpe |
42 |
21 |
9 |
12 |
64 |
59 |
72 |
|
6 |
Crewe |
42 |
21 |
10 |
12 |
66 |
51 |
70 |
|
7 |
BARNET |
42 |
21 |
6 |
15 |
81 |
61 |
69 |
|
8 |
Rochdale |
42 |
18 |
13 |
11 |
57 |
53 |
67 |
|
9 |
Cardiff City |
42 |
17 |
15 |
10 |
66 |
53 |
66 |
|
10 |
Lincoln City |
42 |
17 |
11 |
14 |
50 |
44 |
62 |
|
11 |
Gillingham |
42 |
15 |
12 |
15 |
63 |
53 |
57 |
|
12 |
Scarborough |
42 |
15 |
12 |
15 |
64 |
68 |
57 |
|
13 |
Chesterfield |
42 |
14 |
11 |
17 |
49 |
61 |
53 |
|
14 |
Wrexham |
42 |
14 |
9 |
19 |
52 |
73 |
51 |
|
15 |
Walsall |
42 |
12 |
13 |
17 |
48 |
58 |
49 |
|
16 |
Northampton |
42 |
11 |
13 |
18 |
46 |
57 |
46 |
|
17 |
Hereford |
42 |
12 |
8 |
22 |
44 |
57 |
44 |
|
18 |
Maidstone |
42 |
8 |
18 |
16 |
45 |
56 |
42 |
|
19 |
York City |
42 |
8 |
16 |
22 |
42 |
57 |
40 |
|
20 |
Halifax Town |
42 |
10 |
8 |
24 |
34 |
75 |
38 |
|
21 |
Doncaster |
42 |
9 |
8 |
25 |
40 |
65 |
35 |
|
22 |
Carlisle |
42 |
7 |
13 |
22 |
41 |
67 |
34 |