After reaching the play-offs in 2003-04, Barnet were looking to go one better the following season and gain promotion back to the football league. Paul Fairclough rebuilt the midfield signing Richard Graham from Kettering, Nicky Bailey from Sutton United, Dwane Lee from Exeter City and Dean Sinclair from Norwich. Simon Clist was converted from midfield player to left back.
Graz was hoping to startthe season in the same manner as he had the previous season and in his time at Bristol Rovers, but he was also keen to prove that he could maintain his form the whole season and not tail off come the new year. So were Barnet.
In the opening match at home to Forest Green Rovers, things didn't exactly start off as expected as the bees were a goal down by half time, but a superb debut strike from Richard Graham and two goals from Graz gave the Bees a 3-1 win. For the first, Graz rounded the keeper following a fine through ball from Ben Strevens and for the second, he slid the ball home after being put through by Richie Graham. The following midweek, Barnet, disappointingly, dropped two points in a goalless draw at Farnborough. On the Saturday, Barnet travelled to Halifax Town and found them 2-0 down at half time and many fans must have felt the season was going to be one of struggle. But the match turned out to be the real sparking plug for the season as Barnet pulled back two goals to draw level and then a magnificent lob from 25 yards over Halifax keeper, Ian Dunbavin, by Grazioli gave the Bees all three points. They never looked back.
The following Saturday, Northwich were well beaten 4-0 at Underhill, Graz scoring the final goal with a clever over head kick and on August Bank Holiday, a Dean Sinclair goal put the Bees on top of the Nationwide Conference. They were to stay there for the rest of the season. Graz then scored two opportunist goals in the 5-1 win at home to Morecambe and followed up with goals away at Tamworth, in a 2-0 win and Scarborough in a 1-1 draw. Then Graz scored both goals in a 2-2 draw at home to Woking, the firsta snap shot from the centre of the penalty area and the second, a fine hooked shop over the Woking keeper, which gave him 11 goals in 11 games.
Injury kept Graz out of the next three games, at home to Dagenham & Redbridge and to away games at Exeter City and Carlisle, but the Bees showed that they could do without Grazioli winning all three, 5-0, 3-0 and 3-1 respectively. At the beginning of November, Grazioli scored a fine goal in an excellent 1-1 draw at Hereford, a bit of a graveyard for Barnet in previous seasons. He followed this up with an opportunist goal, following a header by Liam Hatch, in the fine 3-2 win at Aldershot which gave Barnet a 7 point lead over Carlisle United at the top of the table.
Three more wins followed for the Bees, a tight 3-2 home win over Leigh RMI, Graz scoring the opener with a header after just 2 minutes, a superb 3-1 win at Crawley Town where Graz scored twice, the first a fine first time volley and the second a curling shot past the keeper after he was put clear and another 3-1 away win, this time at Gravesend that put Barnet 13 points clear. Barnet then stumbled a little with defeats at home to Tamworth and away at Stevenage, Graz scoring a scrambled goal in a 2-1 defeat, before wins at home to Scarborough and Stevenage, Graz scoring a fine lobbed opener in a 2-1 win, revenge for the Boxing Day defeat at Broadhall Way.
Despite their minor hiccups, Barnet were now 14 points clear at the top of the table and Graz had 18 goals in 22 league games. The home match with Stevenage was the first game of 2005. Could Barnet, and Grazioli, sustain their form for the second half of the season? In fact, Barnet's form did drop a little for the first part of the year. Following the win over Stevenage, Barnet's next 5 games saw them take just 5 points with two draws at Woking and Burton either side of a 1-0 home win over Exeter, Grazioli scoring the winner from close range, followed up by a 2-0 home defeat at home to Hereford United and a 4-1 hammering at Accrington, Graz scoring a late consolation goal for the Bees. Though, Barnet were still 12 points clear, they needed a return to the form of earlier in the season and that is exactly what they got and Grazioli played a big part in it, scoring 7 goals in the next five games.
A 2-1 home win at home to Aldershot steadied the ship, Graz scoring one of the goals and following a small blip at York City where the Bees went down 2-1, Grazioli scoring the Bees goal, they won the next five matches, taking 15 points and making the title a virtual certainty. Two goals from Graz, the second goal, a finely curled shot into the corner of the net, started the ball rolling with a 3-0 win at Leigh RMI. This was followed by a fine 3-0 home win over Crawley Town and then the 7-1 demolition of Farnborough Town, with Graz scoring a superb hat trick, his third for the Bees. The first was a cheeky and audacious goal as Graz nipped in to snatch the ball away from the Farnborough goalkeeper and slot the ball into an empty net. For the second, he lobbed the ball over the keeper from outside the penalty area and for the third, he shot into the corner of the net from inside the penalty area. The hat trick gave Graz 27 for the season so far and 9 of them had been since January.
Wins away at Forest Green Rovers and at home to Canvey Island followed and after a disappointing 2-0 defeat at Northwich Victoria, which had meant to bea promotion party, the scene was set as Halifax Town came to Barnet on the 9th April with the Bees 15 points ahead of Carlisle, who had only 5 games left. Only a draw was needed to clinch the title and promotion back to the league, but things started badly as Halifax took an early lead. However, Graz played in Ben Strevens and he duly equalised to make things all square at half time and second half goals from Simon King and a 28th goal of the season for Grazioli, a turn and a swivelled shot into the net following a cross from Liam Hatch, gave the Bees a 3-1 win and sent Barnet back into the Football League.
Just over a week later, the last home game of the season was played against, ironically, Carlisle United and it looked like they were going to put a dampener of the party atmosphere as they lead 1-0, to a goal from future Bee, Magno Vieira, as the game went into extra time. The game was in its 95th minute when Grazioli, who else, scored with a spectacular overhead kick into the top corner of the net to give the Bees a point and send the Barnet fans wild. It capped a great night as afterwards celebrations began as the Conference trophy was presented.
Barnet had proved that they could maintain their form all season and so had Graz. He finished the season as top scorer in the Conference with 29 goals from 37 league games. He had scored 12 goals in 15 league matches in 2005, proof that he didn't always fade in the second half of the season.
Grazioli was voted player of the year for the second season running and was also voted Nationwide Conference player of the year. Next it was League Two football with Graz keen to prove that he could carry on as he had in the Conference.
In the third, and last, part of the story we will look at the three seasons back in the football league with Barnet.