Barnet entertain Plymouth Argyle on Saturday looking for their first home win of the season.
The two clubs first met in 1984 at Home Park in the 1st round of the FA Cup when the Bees were in the Alliance Premier League and the Pilgrims were in Division 3 (now League One).Plymouth went through to the next round winning 3-0.
It was 1994 when the two clubs next met during Barnet’s solitary season in the third tier of league football (then Division 2). The match at Underhill ended goalless while Plymouth won their home game 1-0.
The following season, Argyle found themselves in the bottom tier of the football league (Division 3) along with Barnet but the Bees didn’t fare any better in their meetings with the Devon club. In 1994/95, Plymouth completed a league double over Barnet winning 1-0 at Home Park and 2-1 at Underhill, Mark Cooper scoring for Barnet.Plymouth were promoted that season but found themselves back in Division 3 in 1998. In that season, 1998/99, the Bees lost 2-0 at Home Park and drew 1-1 at Underhill, Darren Currie scoring for Barnet.
In 1999/00, Barnet lost heavily at Home Park, Ken Charlery’s only goal not enough as the Bees lost 4-1, but in the return at Underhill, a Scott McGleish goal gave the Bees their first win over Plymouth. The following season started brightly for the Bees and amongst their early victims were Plymouth at Home Park, Barnet winning 3-2 with 2 goals from Tony Richards and one from Mark Arber. In the game at Underhill the two sides drew 1-1, Darren Currie scoring for the Bees
At the end of that season, Barnet were relegated to the Nationwide Conference and the two sides did not meet again until 2005 following Barnet’s return to the football league earlier that year. Barnet and Plymouth were drawn together in the 2nd round of the Carling Cup at Underhill and, in an exciting encounter, the Bees won 2-1 to win through to the 3rd round and a trip to Old Trafford to play Manchester United. The Bees took the lead after 12 minutes when Simon King lashed the ball home from 20 yards only for Argyle to level the scoring 8 minutes later with an equally stunning strike from Akos Buzsaky from long range which flew into the top corner past Barnet keeper, Scott Tynan. The home side sealed the win early in the 2nd half when Guiliano Grazioli ran on to a through ball and superbly lobbed the Plymouth keeper to give the Bees victory. The Barnet side that day was; Tynan; Hendon, King, Charles, Batt; Bailey, Sinclair, Lee, Soares (Bowditch); Strevens, Grazioli (Norville).
The following season, the two sides were drawn together in the 4th round of the FA Cup, the first time that the Bees had reached that stage in the club’s history. Barnet had the chances to take the lead in the match but the Championship club, inspired by Chelsea loanee, Scott Sinclair, eventually won through 2-0.
Last season, Barnet were struggling for league form early in the season but defeated Argyle 2-0 at Underhill with goals from Clovis Kamdjo and Izale McLeod. In the return fixture at Home Park, the two sides played out a goalless draw.