Barnet and Macclesfield Town first met each other in the FA Trophy semi-final in April 1970. The game was played at Stoke City’s old Victoria Ground. Macclesfield were defending champions of the new Northern Premier League, while Barnet were a Southern League side.
Macclesfield deservedly won the game 1-0 through a first half goal by Young and went on to win the first FA Trophy Final played at Wembley, beating Telford United 2-0. They also won the Northern Premier League again completing a league and cup double.
The Barnet side that day was; McClelland, Lye, Jenkins, Ward, Embery, King, Powell, George, Meadows, Eason (Gregory), Ferry.
The next time the two sides met was in the Conference in 1987, when the two sides met at Moss Rose and drew 2-2, Barnet’s goals coming from Keith Alexander and Nicky Evans. Lake and Edwards scored for Macclesfield. Graham Westley made his Barnet debut in this match. In the return fixture at Underhill, Barnet won 2-1, Nicky Evans scoring both Barnet’s goals and Hanlon scoring for the visitors.
In 1988-89, Macclesfield thrashed Barnet 4-1 at Underhill, Gary Abbott scoring for the Bees and the return at Moss Rose was drawn 1-1, John Docker scoring for Barnet and Parlane for Macclesfield. In 1989/90, the game at Underhill was goalless, but Barnet won 1-0 at Moss Rose through a David Gipp goal.
The following season, 1990-91 proved to be a historic season for Barnet. The match at Moss Rose ended in a 3-3 draw, Richard Nugent, Micky Bodley and Gary Bull scoring for Barnet. The return at Underhill was in April and Barnet looked to have lost any chance of promotion. Barnet won the game 3-1 with goals from Kevin Durham, Frank Murphy and Gary Bull and went on to win the Conference championship and gain promotion to the football league.
The two clubs next met in 1997-98 following Macclesfield’s promotion from the Conference. Barnet won 3-1 at Underhill with goals from Stevie Searle, Kieron Adams and Sean Devine. Wood scored for the visitors. In the return fixture, goals from Sodje and Powell gave Macclesfield a 2-0 win. At the end of that season, Macclesfield finished 2nd and were promoted to the 2nd division.
However, Macclesfield were relegated straight back the following season and the two sides met again in 1999-2000. Scott McGleish scored twice in a 2-1 win at Underhill, Barker scoring for Macclesfield, but the return fixture ended in a 2-0 win for Macclesfield.
The following season proved to be a disastrous one for the Bees as they finished bottom of the 3rd division and were relegated back to the Conference. Macclesfield did the double over Barnet that season, winning 2-0 at Underhill, Glover scoring both goals and then 3-0 at Moss Rose in March with Barnet already in freefall. Durkan (2) and Glover scored for Macclesfield in a game which proved to be the last match for Barnet played under player-manager Tony Cottee.
Barnet won the Nationwide Conference in 2005 and met Macclesfield Town early in the season following their promotion to League Two. Barnet were in 2nd place after winning two and drawing one of their first three games of the season. Macclesfield had just one point from two games. A Nicky Bailey goal was enough to win Barnet the match 1-0 taking the Bees to the top of the table. The Barnet side was; Tynan: Hendon, King, Charles, Gross; Bailey, Sinclair, Lee, Graham, Strevens; Grazioli. In the return just before Christmas the two sides drew 1-1 at Moss Rose, Bailey equalising late on in the game for the Bees after Kevin Sandwich had given Macclesfield a half time lead.
The following season, 2006-07, the two sides met in September at Moss Rose and Barnet produced one of their best away performances of the season, winning 3-2. After a goalless first half, Macclesfield took the lead after 52 minutes when an attempted clearance by Ian Hendon hit Matty McNeil and rebounded into the Barnet goal. Ian Hendon equalised on the hour from the penalty spot after Simon King had been brought down in the penalty area. Barnet then took the lead two minutes later, Barry Cogan scoring his first goal for Barnet after his transfer from Millwall. Cogan tapped the ball home after the Macclesfield keeper, Brain spilled the ball. Macclesfield equalised through Matthew Tipton after 67 minutes, but Barnet took all three points when Nicky Bailey headed home a Jason Puncheon free kick. The Barnet team was, Harrison; Hendon, King, Charles, Gross; Cogan, Sinclair, Bailey, Puncheon (Graham); Kandol, Norville (Vieira).
The two sides then met at Underhill in January with Barnet in 14th place and having just reached the 4th round of the FA Cup, 4 days earlier, for the first time in the club’s history by beating Colchester United 2-1. Macclesfield were 2nd from bottom. The Bees recorded their 4th home win on the spin with a 1-0 win, completing a double over Macclesfield for the season. Adam Birchall scored the Bees’ winner.
In 2007/08, in December at home to Macclesfield, two awful defensive blunders put the visitors 2-0 up within 10 minutes, through James McNulty and Levi Reid. Liam Hatch pulled one back and a late Neal Bishop goal, his first for the club, saved a point for the Bees. In the return fixture on Easter Monday, Macclesfield won comfortably 3-0.
In 2008/09, Macclesfield won 3-1 at Underhill. John O’Flynn scored for Barnet and Martin Gritton, Francis Green and Nat Brown scored for Macclesfield. The two teams met in the last but one match of the season. Macclesfield won 2-1 at Moss Rose with Albert Adomah scoring for the Bees.
Early last season, the two teams drew 1-1 at Moss Rose with Ricky Sappleton putting the Silkmen ahead and Paul Morgan scoring an own goal that earned the Bees a point.
The return fixture saw the Bees struggling at the wrong end of the table and the Silkmen won 2-1 despite a spectacular goal from on-loan midfield player, Ed Upson. The defeat was the first of six consecutive losses as Barnet only just avoided relegation to the Blue Square Premier on the last day of the season.