Being a Barnet supporter, it is a very nice feeling seeing two teams below you in the league table. That hasn’t been a case for allot of the opening weeks of the season, but it is now, due to a well deserved win against Macclesfield.
A few weeks ago at home against Rotherham United, the Bees had so many chances, yet they couldn’t make the most of them until it was too late. Against Macclesfield, with the exception of the goal, I cannot recall any major opportunities Barnet had to score. Yet we still ground out a good result which will hopefully kick start our season. Mind you, I said the same thing after the wins against Cheltenham Town and Hereford.
Macclesfield has one of the biggest teams in terms of size, that I can recall coming to Underhill. Their two centre backs were massive and looked like they could squeeze blood from a stone. So what does Mark Stimson do? Start a 17 year old, 5 ft 8 inch youth team player to start up front on his own, in Mauro Vilhete. In all fairness, he already looks like a good player with pace to burn, but nonetheless, surely the well built Kevin Gallen would be better equipped to make his debut from the first whistle. I don’t understand why Stimson did that, but because of the fact we won the game, I am not in a position to question his authority.
I also hope that Stimson at least attempted to extend Phil Walsh’s contract with us, as he had the physical presence aswell as the knack of being on the right place at the right time. I wouldn’t mind that much if Phil Walsh was actually now playing games for Dagenham and Redbridge, but he isn’t even making the bench, let alone the starting XI. It is also easy to forget that Barnet still have Steve Kabba and Izale McLeod who are out injured, as well as Charlie Stimson who hardly gets a game, and Charlie Taylor, who in all fairness, is rubbish. Ricky Holmes is a good player, who can also play upfront, but he doesn’t score enough goals and I think he is best out on the wing, or playing behind the main striker. I hope Izale McLeod is worth the long wait and is actually as good as he is made out to be. I hope owner Anthony Kleanthous will be proved correct when he stated that McLeod could potentially be one of Barnet’s biggest ever signings.
Every year, I look forward to the F.A. Cup 1st Round Draw more than the F.A. Cup Final itself. I love seeing all of the minor non-league teams, a lot of whom I haven’t even heard of and don’t know where they are geographically, getting matched up with potentially teams as big as Southampton, and Sheffield Wednesday. Every year, I also am almost preying to get a nice simple non-league team preferably close to London away from home. I was begging for an away tie against the winner of Hendon and Metropolitan Police. That would have been a win, win situation, no matter who would win the replay against the two sides. A new, non-league stadium for starters. And if Metropolitan Police were to win, it would have been a laugh seeing professional players such as Steve Kabba, who has played in the Premiership against the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool, playing a team of policemen. If Hendon were to win, cue the chants of ‘You’re just a small town in Barnet.’
Instead, we draw Charlton Athletic at Underhill. Yes, Charlton are a big side, but we played them in a friendly at Underhill in July, where, coincidently, we won 1-0. I’d have preferred to play them in their large, 25,000 seater stadium. We played them away in the Carling Cup last year, and lost 4-1, but I was feeling sick that night so didn’t attend the match. Being a fan of Barnet does that to my stomach. However, Izale McLeod, who cost Charlton £1.5 Million just 3 years ago, and Grant Basey, will, if fit, be trying to get one over their former club. The match will hopefully be destined to finish 4-3 with the Bees coming back from 3 goals down at half time, with McLeod scoring a hat trick on his debut, and Basey scoring the winning header in the 94th minute. I will continue to dream on.
Hopefully the players can now grind another good result at Shrewsbury on Saturday. I for one am looking forward to the trip to Shropshire, not least because the players have made a very welcome contribution to the coach travel fare, because of the 7-0 disaster at Crewe. Thankfully, I was on my way back from holiday in Scotland when that humiliation was occurring, but even without that game, I think I have suffered sufficiently enough for the players to pay for most of the coach fare.