Barnet In The Athenian League: 1928/29

Last updated : 22 June 2015 By Jaybee

Barnet began the 1928/29 season with a 3-1 home win over Kingstonian with Arthur Morris starting as he meant to continue with two goals and new centre half, W Leach who had arrived from St Albans City scored the other goal. The Barnet line up was; Thornett, Fletcher, Garrett, Anderson, Leach, Darvill, Lock, Morris, Sparrow, Richardson, MacDonald. Anderson joined the club from St Albans while Fred MacDonald was a player who would feature a lot for Barnet in the following years.

A player who was showing promise in the area was one Lester Finch who was appearing for Hadley who played in the Finchley League. 'Finch, of course, has much to learn yet, but provided he is willing to learn, he should make a first class winger', quoted the Barnet Press.

After their opening day win, Barnet's form deteriorated, starting with a 2-0 defeat at Windsor & Eton. That same day, Lester Finch made his debut for Barnet reserves in a 4-2 win at home to W&E. Barnet went out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle, losing 2-1 to Enfield at Cherry Orchard Lane in a replay after the first game, at Underhill, had ended in a 1-1 draw.

A 1-1 draw away at Bromley and a 2-1 home win over Barking Town took Barnet up to 5th place in the league but their form was very inconsistent and Barnet lost three of their next four league games , but also hammered Bromley 6-0 at Underhill with two goals from new striker, J Wilcox who had arrived from Leavesden Mental Hospital, Athur Morris scoring twice and George Sparrow the other.

The Bromley match saw the debut of Lester Finch and he scored his first Barnet goal in the following game, a 3-4 home defeat by Hampstead. George Sparrow played the ball to Finch who directed his shot with great force and the ball rebounded into the net off the far upright. After playing in the return fixture with Hampstead, which Barnet lost 2-1, Finch returned to the reserves.

Barnet's erratic form brought some barracking from the home fans, though a 6-2 away win over struggling Cheshunt in November brought a rare win with Morris scoring four. The win left Barnet fifth in the table with 9 points from 10 games but 10 points behind leaders Hampstead. Worse was to come when Barnet lost 8-1 at home to Sutton United in the next league match and then went out of the Middlesex Charity Cup in the 1st round, losing 4-1 at home to Hampstead, who had now beaten Barnet three times in just over a month.

Barnet completed a league double over Barking Town winning 3-2 at Vicarage Field, but were easily beaten 4-1 at Leyton. In between, Barnet got through the 1st round of the FA Amateur Cup, winning 7-1 away at Spartan League Division One club, Colchester Town, who later became Colchester United. Sparrow and Morris scored two goals each.

A 1-1 home draw on Christmas Day against old rivals, Enfield was followed by a 10-3 hammering of a poor Cheshunt side at Underhill, Morris scoring six, a win that left Barnet in 7th place in the league at the end of 1928.

The new year started badly with a 5-2 defeat at Granleigh Road to Leytonstone in the opening round of the London Senior Cup and a very disappointing 2nd round exit in the FA Amateur Cup, losing 3-2 at home to Welton Rovers from the Western League.

However, the club progressed through the early rounds of the Middlesex Senior Cup defeating Staines 13-3 in the 1st round at Underhill with Morris getting 5, new striker, J Oyston 4 and Walter Martin a hat trick. The other goal was scored by Lester Finch now restored to the first team. In the 2nd round, Barnet finally defeated Hampstead, winning 4-2 at Underhill, Morris scoring a hat trick and Lester Finch one.

Barnet's league form continued to be inconsistent, losing 3-2 at struggling Uxbridge Town at Honeycroft, but then won successive home games against Southall (4-2) and Redhill (8-1). Morris scored 4 against Redhill but in their next league game, Barnet were hammered 5-1 away at Wealdstone at Lower Mead leaving them 7th in the league.

Meanwhile, Barnet went out of the Middlesex Senior Cup at the semi-final stage, losing 1-0 to Southall at Hampstead in a replay after the original tie, played at Wealdstone, had ended goalless.

Barnet's legendary striker, George Sparrow, whose star had been eclipsed somewhat by the rise of Arthur Morris was dropped from the first team and played for Southall on their Easter tour of the Channel Islands. Sparrow's previous game for Barnet had been in the 4-2 home league win over Southall when he had scored one of the goals.

Sparrow missed the 4-0 home win over Cheshunt in the Herts Charity Cup semi-final where Morris scored twice. The win meant that Barnet had scored 20 goals over Cheshunt that season in three meetings between the clubs. Sparrow returned for the 1-1 draw away at Redhill in the league, scoring Barnet's goal and Barnet won four of their last six league games to finish 7th in the league; Leyton were champions.