Barnet were promoted back to the football league in 2005 and returned to playing in the League Cup, now renamed the Carling Cup. In the 1st Round they were drawn away at League One club, Bristol City and produced one of the shocks of the round with a 4-2 win which included a stunning individual goal from Nicky Bailey which was to later win the Goal of the Season award for 2005/06 at Barnet. Dwane Lee scored twice and Lee Roache scored the other goal in a splendid win for the Bees who at the time were top of League Two. The Barnet side that day was; Flitney, Hendon, King, Charles, Gross, Bailey, Bowditch (Norville), Lee, Graham, Strevens, Grazioli (Roache).
In the 2nd round, Barnet were drawn at home to Plymouth Argyle and gave another fine performance, winning 2-1 with goals from Simon King and Guiliano Grazioli to go through to the 3rd round of the League Cup for the first time in the club’s history. The draw for the 3rd round ensured that whatever the outcome, October 26th 2005 would be one of the highlights of Barnet’s history as the club was drawn away to play mighty Manchester United at Old Trafford.
On the day, the occasion started badly for the Bees. Travel problems meant that many fans had still not arrived when the game started and with only a few minutes gone, referee Richard Beeby made the decision that was to completely alter the course of the game for barnet when he sent keeper, Ross Flitney off for handling the ball outside the penalty area. For poor Louis Soares, it meant that his day was ruined as he was the unlucky player to be substituted so that Scott Tynan could replace Flitney in goal. Manchester United scored from the free kick that followed the sending off and Barnet had another piece of bad luck when Guiliano Grazioli scored an equaliser only for the goal to be ruled out by Beeby when the goal appeared to be a perfectly good one. In the end, United won 4-1 but the Barnet fans sang throughout the game and did the players proud and they erupted when Dean Sinclair scored the only Barnet goal. The Barnet side that day was; Flitney, Hendon, Yakubu, King, Gross, Soares (Tynan), Sinclair, Bailey, Lee (Batt), Strevens, Grazioli (Hatch)
The following season, 2006/07, was the last season to date that Barnet have got past the first round. In the 1st round, they were drawn to play Cardiff City, as now in the Championship, at Ninian Park and were expected to loose. However, the Bees, with Joe Devera making his full debut for the club at right back, gave a superb performance and won comfortably 2-0 with both goals coming from Tresor Kandol, one in each half. The Barnet line up was; Flitney, Devera, Charles, Warhurst, Gross, Cogan, Sinclair, Bailey, Puncheon (Nicolau), Kandol, Vieira (Norville).
The 2nd round saw a trip to another Championship side, but this was a more glamorous tie as Barnet were drawn to play Leeds United at Elland Road. Barnet gave a good account of themselves and probably should have been awarded a penalty but in the end lost 3-1 with Magno Vieira scoring the Bees’ goal.
In the next two seasons, Barnet failed to make it past the 1st round and in both matches they have been reduced to 10 men after having a player red carded. In 2007, they lost 5-2 at Norwich City after Neal Bishop was sent off and Norwich had gone 5-0 up by halt time. The Bees pulled back two goals in the second half through Jason Puncheon and Adam Birchall.
In 2008/09, Barnet went out at the same stage, losing 4-0 to Brighton and had Kenny Gillet sent off. And sadly, the Bees went out at the first time of asking the following season, losing 2-0 at home to Watford, though the Bees did give a very good account of themselves, taking the Championship club to extra time. Th e poor League Cup performances continued into 2010/1 with a 3-0 defeat at Swansea City, though as the Championship club were promoted to the Premier League at the end of the season, perhaps it wasn't too bad.
Last season was the first time since 2006/07 that Barnet had made it through the first round. They provided one of the shocks of the round by deservedly winning 1-0 away at Portsmouth with skipper, Mark Hughes scoring the winner. In the 2nd round, Barnet were drawn away at another Championship club, this time Burnley and looked to be going out easily as they went 2-0 down. However, goals from Steve Kabba and Ricky Holmes forced extra time before the home side scored again to win 3-2.