In the summer before the Bees began their new adventure in the Alliance Premier League, Barry Fry was busy signing new players. Left sided utility player, Graham Pearce joined from Hillingdon Borough, Chris Smith, a 17 year old midfield player from Bedford Town, goalkeeper, Garry Steel from Hendon, ex Hadley central defender, Steve Robinson and 24 year old, central defender, Kevin Millett who had player under Fry at Bedford and Hillingdon. Millett cost Fry around ₤10,000 and who Fry had been chasing since the previous December. Millett was to play a big part in the club’s fortunes in the next few years. Another player who played a big part in Barnet’s early APL years who signed before the start of the season was former Wealdstone midfield player, Steve Brinkman. Former Manchester City, Stockport and Stafford midfield player, Colin Hardman also signed on after a trial.
Fry had retained a number of players from the previous season including, Kevin Blackwell, Chris Hullett, Steve Oliver, Steve Turner, Russell Townsend, Martin Sperrin, George Cleary and player of the year, Les McCormack.
Fry also ended up giving new contracts to former Bedford town winger, Gary French, Steve Foody, Tony O’Hare and former Kempston Rovers and WBA player, Stewart Woolgar.
One player who was not kept by Fry was former Chelsea, Spurs, West Ham and England star, Jimmy Greaves who was discarded as too old by the new Barnet boss.
Barnet opened up their first APL season with a trip to Nuneaton Borough but Barnet performed very poorly and were lucky to escape with a 2-1 defeat, Kevin Blackwell made a fantastic flying save after only 6 minutes and Pearce made a spectacular goalline just after the half hour with the Bees already a goal down. The match was already lost when Gary French scored in the last minute for Barnet.
Barnet’s first APL match at Underhill ended in a goalless draw with Boston United, but Barnet won their next match at home against Stafford Rangers with French again scoring, this time converting a penalty after Martin Sperrin had been upended in the penalty area. Graham Pearce scored the winner for the Bees. The Barnet side was; Blackwell, Hullett, Millett, Oliver, Pearce, Townsend, McCormack, Turner, Robinson, Sperrin, Siani (French). Brian Siani was a young player who had come up through the Barnet youth ranks.
However, Barnet’s form soon dipped after a couple of solid 1-1 awy draws at Weymouth and Boston, defeats followed at home to Maidstone and away at Weymouth and then the bees played a dour goalless draw away at lowly Redditch in front of only 664 fans. Russell Townsend was sold to Northampton for £20,000.
Things picked up with a double over Bath City in the space of a week with new loan signing from Brentford, Bob Booker scoring on his debut at Underhill in a 2-0 win in the APL Cup and scoring the winner at Twerton Park in a 2-1 win.
Meanwhile, Les McCormack had been transferred to Boreham Wood and George Cleary had gone to Bedford Town for ₤1400.
Two draws against Wealdstone in the opening qualifying round of the FA Trophy followed before the side went down 2-0 at Maidstone, who completed a league double over the Bees. Lou Adams played as a substitute after re-joining the club.
Finally, after three games, the Bees progressed into the next round of the FA Trophy by defeating Wealdstone 2-0 with Booker again scoring along with Chris Smith and this was followed by a 1-0 home APL win over AP Leamington in a game in which Blackwell was outstanding after Steve Turner scored after three minutes.
A Lou Adams goal saw them win 1-0 at Watford in the Herts Senior Cup before they went down to a surprise 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Wycombe Wanderers from the Isthmian League. Fry called the performance, “Disgraceful”.
Barnet paid ₤4000 for ex Bedford Town striker, Elwyn Roberts to return from playing in Australia. Meanwhile there were scouts from a number of clubs looking at Fry’s promising young players, such as Kevin Blackwell, Russell Townsend, Gary French & Graham Pearce.
“If clubs are looking for cheap picking they will be disappointed. I shall want at least ₤10,000 for any player in demand”, said Fry.
Barnet bounced back with a 2-1 away win at another Isthmian League club, this time Leytonstone & Ilford, at Granleigh Road, where the Bees won 2-1 with Booker equalising for the Bees before Turner grabbed the winner two minutes later. The home club were later, eventually, to evolve into Dagenham & Redbridge.
But Barnet’s league form was suffering and a rare Blackwell blunder in goal handed Kettering Town a 1-0 win before the Bees traveled to Yeovil Town to be hammered 5-0. Barnet were struggling in the bottom half of the league and with just 2 points from the next four league games, Barnet slipped into the relegation zone with only Redditch United below them in the league, though Telford and Barrow were on the same points. The only bright spot was a 1-0 win away at Hayes in the 3rd qualifying round of the FA Trophy through a rare Chris Hullett goal.
A 2-1 home win over Nuneaton Borough preceded a relegation battle at Underhill against Telford United and the Bees responded with their first league win since October, Smith, Robinson, Brinkman & Hullett getting the Barnet goals as they won 4-1. However, one swallow does not make a spring, as they say, and two defeats over Christmas and the New Year, home and away to Wealdstone left them in 19th place, a point adrift of AP Leamington and Stafford Rangers.
“I had never thought that we were in any trouble in the league until the two Wealdstone games, now I've got to admit that things are looking bad”, said Barry Fry.
Still, Barnet managed to progress in the FA Trophy, winning a replayed !st round proper tie, 1-0 through a Steve Robinson goal. Fry signed 18 year old striker, Martin Conquest from Luton town and he scored on his debut in a 1-1 home draw with Bangor City and following a solid 0-0 draw at Scarborough, Conquest scored again in a fine 3-0 home victory over Gravesend with Steve Turner scoring twice.
Barnet's form appeared to be on the upturn with a fine 4-1 home win over Bangor in the FA Trophy with Turner grabbing a hat trick and at last a goal for Elwyn Roberts. However, the Bees lost their next four games, beginning with a 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Kettering Town, the first goal scored by a player who would play a big part in Barnet's future, Nicky Evans.
Barnet were also hammered 8-0 on aggregate in the Alliance Premier League Cuo semi final against Altrincham, who won their home tie 7-0 with Barnet outclassed and humiliated. In between the two legs, Barnet's FA Trophy adventure ended in the 3rd round at Nuneaton Borough as the Bees lost 2-1 after Robinson had given them the lead in the 40th minute.
But Barnet's form was so up and down and they managed to win their next three matches; a last minute Steve Oliver goal grabbing the points at home to Nuneaton, two Chris Hullett goals in a 2-1 win at Stafford and a late Steve Robinson goal at home to Bath City.
'Barnet's APL future is now all but assured' said the Barnet Press as the Bees moved up to 7th from the bottom with games in hand as well. But Barnet lost Steve Turner to Luton town, initially on a loan basis until the end of the season. On face value it seemed as though at the end of the season, Turner would become a Luton player and pay the Bees a suitable transfer fee for Turner.
Turner's departure did not appear to affect things on the pitch and a 2-0 home win over Altrincham, the eventual champions, with Roberts & Robinson scoring followed by a 2-1 win at Telford, Roberts scoring again, made it five wins in a row, quite unthinkable just a few months before. Elwyn Roberts' goal at Telford was seen as one of the best seen at the Bucks Head all season, a stunning drive which left the goalkeeper helpless. Manager, Barry Fry felt that Roberts was a 'much maligned' striker who was beginning to run into some form.
The run of wins couldn't last though, a goalless draw at home to Worcester City was followed by a dreadful Easter, with Barnet losing all three matches without even scoring. The Bees even lost to bottom club, Redditch. Barnet's form collapsed. When Barnet faced Northwich Victoria at the beginning of the Easter period they had 29 points from 29 games. In the remaining 9 matches of the season, they took just one point. The bees finished 17thand must have been thankful for their run of five wins on the trot in March. Only one club, Redditch United, were relegated and Barnet finished 12 points above them, so they were safe enough, but it had been a disappointing start to their time in the new league.
The Bees only managed to score 32 goals in 38 games. Only bottom club, Redditch United scored less. Defensively, the side was quite sound, the team just didn't score enough goals.
The Bees did at least win the Herts Senior Cup, defeating Boreham Wood 1-0 at Watford, with a steve Robinson goal six minutes into extra time, while the reserve team won the Fred Budden Trophy beating Cambridge City 7-5 over two legs.
The team also went on tour to Portugal, playing two games. Elwyn Robers scored in a 1-1 draw against Portinmonense and defeated Sporting Portimao who had only lost 2-0 to the mighty Benfica earlier in the season with goals from Steve Robinson, Noel Blackman, Elwyn Roberts, Brian Siani and Colin Hardman.
So Barnet's first season in the APL ended, maybe not quite the way they would have wanted it but at least they had not gone down.