On the resumption of football following the end of WW1, Barnet Alston changed their name to Barnet FC and were members of the Athenian League. In the league, Barnet were rarely out of the top half and were champions in 1931 and 1932. However, the club's league form didn't often carry over into their FA Cup performances.
In the seasons immediately after the war there were some good results such as the 8-0 home win over Vauxhall Motors, yet another Luton club, in 1920 and in 1923, another 8-0 win over Apsley. In both of the first post war seasons, Barnet were knocked out early on in the competition by St. Albans City.
It was not until the 1924-25 season that Barnet had a decent run in the competition. The Bees reached the 6th qualifying round beating such local sides as Edmonton, Wood Green Town and Hampstead Town!! They went out to Exeter City, again, by 3-0 at home.
This fine cup run had a very good spin off for the club as in the following season they entered the FA Cup at the 4th qualifying round stage rather than the preliminary rounds as had been the case before. There were also no 5th or 6th qualifying rounds. Success in the 4th qualifying round would mean progress to the 1st round proper of the competition for the first time. And so it turned out as Redhill were defeated after a replay and the Bees were drawn away at Brentford in the 1st round proper. Barnet lost the match 3-0, but the following season, they reached the 1st round again after knocking out Slough. Again this was as far as Barnet were to go as they lost 3-0 away to Brighton & Hove Albion.
After that, Barnet were back to the preliminary rounds again, but a run to the 4th qualifying round in 1930-31, where they lost 2-1 away at Kingstonian and winning the Athenian League championship, enabled Barnet to come into the 1931-32 competition at the 4th qualifying round stage again. This time, Dulwich Hamlet were defeated 2-1 at home and the Bees were drawn against QPR at home in the 1st round, unfortunately losing 7-3!!!
Two years later, Barnet reached the 1st round again after beating Wimbledon 3-1. This time they were drawn away at Southern League side, Cheltenham Town. After going behind in the 1st minute of the match, the Bees equalised through Richardson and Bees legend, Lester Finch came close to putting Barnet ahead before Cheltenham regained the lead before half time. Early in the second half, Barnet had a good spell and Sutton, Marchant and Richardson all had chances to put the Bees level but in the end the home side took control and ran out comfortable 5-1 winners. The Barnet side that day was, Ansley; Wade, Garrett; Smith, Jarrett, Sutton; Marchant, Richardson, Morris, Markwell, Finch.
The rest of the 1930's, up to the onset of the Second World War, were disappointing. Despite a side containing a number of talented players such as Lester Finch, who was capped by England, Irish international, Jim McCarthy, Dennis Kelleher and Ian MacFarlane who was capped by Scotland, Barnet failed to impress in the competition. Indeed, the period was notable for some desperately poor results, the club losing 5-2 to Harwich & Parkeston in 1935, 6-2 to Leavesden Hospital in 1936, 6-2 again to Golders Green (now Hendon FC) in 1937 and 5-2 at home to Hoddeston Town in 1938. The latter result was particularly surprising bearing in mind the fact that Barnet finished as runners up in the Athenian League that season. The best result was a 7-0 home victory over Welwyn Garden City at home in 1938. In 1939, Barnet defeated Berkhamstead Town 2-1 in the Extra Preliminary Round, but the competition ended there as war was declared against Germany and the FA Cup was suspended for the next six years.
In the next part of this story, we will look at Barnet's fortunes in the FA Cup following the end of WW2 up to the club's entry into the Alliance Premier League in 1979.
1919-20
PR H Cheshunt 1-0 27/09/19
Q1 A St.Albans City 0-1 11/10/19
1920-21
PR H London Generals 2-1 25/09/20
Q1 H Vauxhall Motors (Luton) 8-0 09/10/20
Q2 A St.Albans City 2-4 23/10/20
1921-22
PR A Hampstead Town 0-3 24/09/21
1922-23
EPR A Biggleswade & District 1-2 09/09/21
1923-24
EPR H Apsley 8-0 08/09/23
PR A Leavesden Mental Hospital 3-0 22/09/23
Q1 H Fricker Athletic 2-0 06/10/23
Q2 H Enfield 1-1 20/10/23
R A Enfield 0-2 24/10/23
1924-25
PR A Edmonton 5-0 20/09/24
Q1 A Wood Green Town 4-2 04/10/24
Q2 H Letchworth Town 2-1 18/10/24
Q3 A Hampstead Town 2-2 01/11/24
R H Hampstead Town 3-2 05/11/24
Q4 H Guildford United 3-1 15/11/24
Q5 H Leyton 2-0 29/11/24
Q6 A Exeter City 0-3 13/12/24
1925-26
Q4 A Redhill 2-2 14/11/25
R H Redhill 3-2 18/11/25
R1 A Brentford 0-3 28/11/25
1926-27
Q4 H Slough 3-1 13/11/26
R1 A Brighton & Hove Albion 0-3 27/11/26
1927-28
PR A Enfield 8-0 17/09/27
Q1 H Waterlows (Dunstable) 5-0 01/10/27
Q2 A Letchworth Town 4-1 15/10/27
Q3 A Hampstead Town 1-2 29/10/27
1928-29
PR H Enfield 1-1 15/09/28
R A Enfield 1-2 19/09/28
1929-30
EPR A Leavesden Mental Hospital 0-0 07/09/29
R H Leavesden Mental Hospital 3-2 11/09/29
PR A Haywards Sports 5-1 21/09/29
Q1 A Finchley 2-2 05/10/29
R H Finchley 3-1 09/10/29
Q2 H Cheshunt 0-4 19/10/29
1930-31
PR H St. Albans City 6-2 20/09/30
Q1 A Hertford Town 3-3 04/10/30
R H Hertford Town 7-1 08/10/30
Q2 H Chesham United 3-2 18/10/30
Q3 H Finchley 4-0 01/11/30
Q4 A Kingstonian 1-2 15/11/30
1931-32
Q4 H Dulwich Hamlet 2-1 14/11/31
R1 H QPR 3-7 28/11/31
1932-33
Q4 H Brighton & Hove Albion 0-4 12/11/32
1933-34
Q4 A Wimbledon 3-1 11/11/33
R1 A Cheltenham Town 1-5 25/11/33
1934-35
Q4 A Harwich & Parkeston 2-5 10/11/34
1935-36
PR A Leavesden Hospital 2-6 21/09/35
1936-37
EPR H Old Johnians 4-1 05/09/36
PR A Hertford Town 4-1 19/09/36
Q1 A Golders Green 2-6 03/10/36
1937-38
EPR H Hoddesdon Town 2-5 04/09/37
1938-39
EPR H Welwyn Garden City 7-0 03/09/38
PR A Leavesden 2-1 17/09/38
Q1 A Enfield 2-0 01/10/38
Q2 A Golders Green 2-3 15/10/38
1939-40
EPA A Berkhemstead Town 2-1
(Rest of tournament cancelled due to outbreak of WW2)
1939-45 No FA Cup Matches.