Barnet crushed Southern League opponents, St Albans City 10-2 in yesterday’s pre-season friendly at Clarence Park. Barnet fielded a mixture of new arrivals, old faces and trial players again with two trial players; centre back, Jon Fortune and winger, Anthony Edgar getting another chance after appearing in the 6-0 win last weekend at Burnham Ramblers. There was also a first Barnet performance for new striker, Jon Nurse.
Second half substitutes included right back, Connor McLaren, who was with Millwall last season; Taylor McKenzie, a central defender who played for Norwich City reserves; Andrew Manitou, a central defender who played in the Bees’ youth team last season and Sakho Bakare, who played for St Albans last season as a striker and scored 14 goals in 33 appearances. Jake Hyde, who also played at Burnham and scored twice, is, of course, a former Barnet player who has been playing with Dundee in Scotland.
Barnet were 2-0 up within the first five minutes through a 20 yard shot from Mark Byrne and a volley from Mauro Vilhete. On 14 minutes, Bees’ new boy, Jon Nurse was brought down in the penalty area. Ricky Holmes’ shot was saved but he scored from the rebound.
Two minutes later, Andrew Fagan pulled one back for the home side heading in from former Barnet hero, Richard Graham’s free kick, but Nurse then scored twice for the Bees, both assists from impressive winger, Edgar, before Olly Lee made it 6-1 at half time.
As expected, there were a number of second half substitutions, but Barnet remained on the rampage, going 7-1 up after 49 minutes through Andy Yiadom, who made and took his goal from 10 yards. Anthony Edgar then scored twice, the second from 20 yards to make it 9-1. Bakare finished off the Bees’ scoring from close range to make it 10-1 on 78 minutes before Danny Spendlove grabbed a consolation goal for the Saints two minutes later in front of a crowd of 404.
Obviously, a very satisfying work out for the Bees against a side only three divisions below league football. There were a number of good performances from Barnet players, particularly from Olly Lee and Anthony Edgar, a player who was with Yeovil Town last season and who has impressed the travelling Barnet fans with his play so far, with many fans keen for him to sign a permanent contract with the club.
Next up; much stiffer opposition in newly promoted, Championship club, Charlton Athletic, who are at Underhill on Thursday evening. See you there.