Following the end of the First World War, football resumed and the Athenian League restarted for season 1919/20. Barnet & Alston had taken part in the United Senior League in 1919 when they finished 7th out of 8 clubs. The decision was made before the new season started to drop the ‘Alston’ part of the club’s name and the club became simply Barnet FC, the third club to bear this name.
The newly renamed club started the new Athenian League club with a friendly at home to Tufnell Spartan which ended in a 2-2 draw, R. Kidd scoring both Barnet goals. The opening Athenian League match saw Barnet win 2-1 away at Hampstead (now Hendon FC) with Kidd and F Denton scoring the goals. Goalkeeper, W. Bowden and outfield players T Saggers, E Purvis and Walter Allen had all played for Barnet Alston prior to the outbreak of the war and were all included in the line up against Hampstead. It was the first competitive match played by the modern Barnet FC under that name. The Barnet line up for this historic game was; W Bowden, H King, T Saggers, E Purvis, W Allen, B McGuire, E Pett, F Denton, R Kidd, B Menlove, T King.
It was common at this time for league matches to take second place often to cup competitions and this season was no different. Barnet met rival Athenian League club, Cheshunt at Underhill in the Preliminary Round of the FA Cup and a goal from Ernest Pett gave Barnet a 1-0 win and they progressed through to meet St Albans in the 1st Qualifying Round at Clarence Park but Barnet lost 1-0 to St Albans who played in the Spartan League.
In between the two cup games, Barnet travelled to Bromley for n Athenian League match and lost 4-1.
Next up was a visit from Carshalton in the 2nd qualifying round of the London Senior Cup. Carshalton played in the Southern Suburban League and Barnet won easily 7-2 with Emilie and Roper scoring hat tricks.
A return to the Athenian League saw a good 2-2 draw away at Metrogas with goals from Kidd and Denton before the club’s second league defeat of the season at Uxbridge (0-2). With four league matches played, Barnet were 7th with 3 points. Bromley lead the table with 13 points from 7 games ahead of Luton Clarence and Metrogas.
Another visit to Underhill from Cheshunt saw Barnet progress to the Herts Charity Cup Final with a 2-0 win courtesy of a penalty from Harry King and a goal from D Cox and Barnet also progressed in the London Senior Cup winning 2-1 against Temple Mills, a works team from Stratford who played in the South Essex League . Kidd and P Watson scored the goals for Barnet.
A return to league action saw Barnet hammer Southall 5-1 at Underhill with two goals from Cox and F. Glover, W. Coombes and Percy Chandler scoring for Barnet. Chandler was another player who had played for Barnet Alston before the war. Meanwhile, Ernie Pett was ‘assisting’ with Clapton Orient reserves.
In the 4th round of the London Senior Cup, Barnet met another works team, this time, Handley Page who were based in Cricklewood; the company made aircraft. Barnet won 2-1 with Pett and Coombes scoring the goals. In the 5th round, Barnet met another Athenian League team, Summerstown and won 4-3, Pett, Coombes and Chandler scoring plus there was an own goal. The previous Saturday, Barnet had travelled to Chelmsford for an Athenian League match and won 2-1, Kidd and Coombes scoring. It was Barnet’s 6th competitive win in a row and the win at Chelmsford gave them 7 points from 6 Athenian League games, placing them 6th in the table at Christmas. Bromley were still top with 11 points from 8 matches with Luton Clarence and Hampstead just below them. Chelmsford were bottom.
The year ended with a seventh win on the trot as Barnet beat Summerstown again, this time for league points, the game ending in a 3-0 win at Underhill with goals from Coombes, Kidd & Chandler leaving Barnet with 9 points from 7 games.
The opening game of the new year was a disappointment as Barnet went down, surprisingly, to Leavesden, a Herts County League team, 2-3 at Underhill in the 1st round of the FA Amateur Cup, Tom and Harry King getting the Barnet goals. But there was consolation the following week as Barnet defeated rivals, Hampstead, 2-0 at Underhill in the 1st round Proper of the London Senior Cup with both goals being scored by Ernie Pett.
Barnet then dropped a point at home to lowly Chelmsford in the league drawing 2-2 (Pett & Harry King) and then went down 3-1 away at Cheshunt in the league too (Harry King).
At the beginning of February, Barnet travelled to Wimbledon in the 2nd round of the London Senior Cup and lost 2-1, E Watkins scoring for Barnet. The defeat left Barnet with only the Herts Charity Cup as a realistic possibility of a trophy as they did not seem likely to win the Athenian League title. The following Saturday, Barnet played out a goalless draw at home to league leaders, Luton Clarence and followed this up with another draw at Summerstown (1-1, Pett) and a fine 3-1 home win over Wimbledon in the league; F Savage, M Lawson and Watkins scoring Barnet’s goals.
Ernie Pett’s form earned him a place in the Athenian League side that played Arsenal as Barnet’s league form rather fluctuated. A 2-1 defeat at Kingstonian (Allen) was followed by the completion of a league double over Wimbledon with Barnet winning 1-0 at Plough Lane thanks to a goal from W Wakefield who had just joined the club from Barnet Athletic who played in the Finsbury Park League.
Barnet then beat Uxbridge 4-1 at Underhill with Coombes grabbing a hat trick before going down to consecutive defeats at Luton Clarence and at home to Kingstonian both by 2-0. But Barnet then won four of their last five Athenian League matches, beating Bromley (5-0), Hampstead (1-0), Metrogas (8-2) and Cheshunt (8-0) with just one defeat at Southall (1-4). This fine run meant that Barnet finished in 3rd place in the league only behind Metrogas and runaway winners, Luton Clarence who finished the season with 37 points, 8 ahead of Metrogas and 11 ahead of Barnet whose huge wins over Metrogas and Cheshunt enabled them to finish above Hampstead Town on goal average.
A good, solid season came to a satisfactory conclusion with a 2-0 victory over Leavesden in the final of the Herts Charity Cup played at Watford; Pett and Watkins scoring for Barnet and it was consolation for the Amateur Cup defeat earlier in the season.