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Ferry Cross The Mersey
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One for the ages as great Bees form continues at pace.
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By:
Eric Hitchmo
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12/10/2025
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This article has been viewed 722 times.
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Tranmere away was one of the first matches I looked for back in the summer on fixtures day. Predominantly for the fact we’d never played them before and it was an opportunity to tick off a new ground. When this happens, you can generally guarantee a healthy turnout of Barnet new, old and everywhere in between.
With a second child due at the end of November, the fixture coming about in early October wasn’t necessarily ideal, but negotiations began in earnest months before. This was one I knew that everyone would be up for, and I wasn’t intending to miss out on it even if the timing and logistics from Ireland weren’t ideal.
Having watched our shaky start to the season steady itself from afar, the feeling of missing out had again grown to an excessive level with each passing week. The win at Crewe in particular looked like the sort of game we’d be talking about in years to come, with Cieran Slicker’s double penalty save topped off with an unlikely winner from Ryan Glover. That kind of shit is extremely rare in the life of a Barnet supporter, and for those there I can only imagine how the air tasted walking out of Gresty Road.
Solid and impressive wins against Grimsby and Accrington steadied our home record back to that which we’ve become accustomed to, and we’ve started to show the promise that perhaps the more optimistic amongst us had in mind at the start of the season. Three defeats from three after promotion will dampen even the most fervent voices, but we have slowly found our way in this division and are starting to look like a force to be reckoned with.
Unfortunately for me it had been a fairly tricky month at home which, long story short, basically wrote off any chance of me coming back for this one. How sweet it was then that very late in the day in a late turn of fortune, I managed to get the trip booked. It was to be a one dayer, fly in the morning and back in the evening which was relatively straightforward given the direct route from Dublin to Liverpool. Regardless of the short timeframe it would surely be an adequate release of the internal pressure valve, even if we did lose 5-0. I had only told my fellow DSH custodian about my attendance, so when the boys arrived at The Crown outside Liverpool Lime Street station, they were mildly disappointed to see my gormless face grinning at them. I enjoyed it, at least.
Having all left our respective homesteads before 9am the atmosphere was already jovial pre-match. Taxis took us over (or under) the Mersey to a pub on the corner of the ground called The Mersey Clipper. It may have been an unspectacular Greene King nothing, but it did the job that was required of it and the number of Barnet fans in there was indeed healthy.
It was to be a first ever meeting between Tranmere and Barnet. Our hosts have fallen on unfortunate times in the last decade or so. Until now we somehow managed to pass each other in relegation and promotion to and from non-league, but really Tranmere are a proper team with plenty of pedigree that you’d associate with the higher end of the pyramid, particularly if you are old enough to remember their various cup exploits around the turn of the millennium or even a near-miss on promotion to the Premier League. As such, the ground felt proper when you were in and around it and the people we met seemed like decent football fans who were very proud of their club despite the two giants casting a shadow over them across the river.
We really did bring plenty with us to our first match in this part of the country. It was a good old sing song from start to finish, a terrific racket created by us. No official number at the time of writing, but perhaps 400 or more had made the trip, including several from the Netherlands as the partnership with SC Telstar helped bump the number up. Can anyone explain where that unlikely partnership has come from?
Fortunately we had plenty to shout about. This was a truly dominant away performance throughout the 90. We were excellent, on and off the pitch. To a man, we looked every bit the champions we had been last season. Early season jitters dismissed, we have well and truly found our feet at this level.
Bar an early chance for the hosts which was dragged wide, our defence dealt comfortably with what was thrown at them. Collinge solid and dependable, Tavares just ridiculously good and Adam Senior is looking like a terrific signing and more. Romoney Crichlow had a bumpy start with us has stepped up well these last few games and completed what is now a back four who have only conceded twice in the last five in the league.
Our midfield is industrious and creative. Idris Kanu and Ryan Glover fly up and down the wings for the entirety of games and look as though they could carry on for another 90. They attack with purpose and defend with grit. Kanu in particular has come on leaps and bounds as a more complete footballer this last year. Anthony Hartigan has been in and out of the starting XI but he looked more himself today, dictating the play from his deep lying role allowing Ofoborh to play almost a free role marauding around the centre of the field. Up top, Lee Ndlovu continues to be a menace rapidly approaching cult hero status and Callum Stead, making his 100th competitive appearance was fully himself in a way that only he can be, chasing anything and everything giving the home defence zero respite.
All of this led by a man in Dean Brennan, who is still learning at a new level but is doing so quickly. A shrewd adaptation of our successful system from last season has seen us become a little more ugly but no less effective on recent evidence. We’ve found our best starting XI after that early tinkering and his stock continues to rise. Some man.
It’s not really like me to give an in-depth tactical analysis of a game I don’t really understand, but the simple truth is that we were a joy to watch in the first half. Our man Lindokuhle bagged the opener having been set on goal by Hartigan to give us a deserved lead. We kept our foot on the gas, at times cutting through Tranmere at will, and when a Danny Collinge cross was nodded home by Adam Senior shortly before the break to double our lead, it was the fairest reflection of a dominant performance.
The volume in the away end was high anyway, but the performance on the pitch spurred it on to make for a great sing song. More and more 90s club classics have made their way into the football song repertoire, and the reworked version of Shaft’s “Mucho Mambo Sway” for Adam Senior is still rattling my ears even now. It’s always a good sign when you come home from an away day sounding hoarse with a sore throat.
The home side having been booed off at half time threatened briefly at the start of the second half but whatever storm there was, it was weathered well by our backline. In the end, it was us who looked like deservedly adding to the tally but to be denied by good goalkeeping in the case of sub Mark Shelton’s effort and Adam Senior’s point blank header which really should’ve gone in. Kanu missed a late one-on-one to open his account for the season but it did nothing to dampen our noisy spirits behind that goal.
There was to be a sour note at the end of the game as Cieran Slicker got himself inexplicably sent off which will give Owen Evans an opportunity to reclaim his place in the sticks. Nonetheless, it was a very good job very well done. There were more boos from the home crowd that remained, thoroughly dissatisfied with their team’s showing. Who can blame them? They were rubbish.
We descended back on the Mersey Clipper in top form for a celebratory tipple before heading back to where we’d started in Liverpool, The Crown. Owing to some National Rail issues, trains were being delayed and cancelled left right and centre. How fortunate for me then that my method of transport was via the air, so after a very smooth passage home, I was back way before midnight which judging by the WhatsApp group this morning was way ahead of many who had to endure a long slog home to London and surrounding areas.
I saw a clip on Twitter in the week from one of those generic football accounts talking about the importance and unique nature of “football mates”. In summary, it talked of how important they are to each other and how you see them more often than most other sets of friends or even some family.
This is something we all know pretty well from going to Barnet over the years, but it was especially poignant for me as I don’t see my football mates nearly as much as I’d like these days owing to my relocation. At the risk of repeating myself, my strained relationship with Barnet FC has now fully healed. In part because of the actual football being good, but also in large part down to the fact I just like going to the football with my mates. The phrase “you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone” is particularly relevant to me, having effectively stopped going in the mid-late 2010s and missing out on those days out with the boys.
The fact I live in Ireland now with a kid and another on the way makes it far more tricky just to make an impulse decision to attend, so when I do get the opportunity, I have to grab it with both hands. I’m very glad I did that yesterday. Walking into an away end like that with not only your mates, but all the familiar Barnet faces you’ve come to know to varying levels over the years should fill anyone with joy. It was pointed out to me that Friday just passed was World Mental Health Day. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that for many, going to the football on a Saturday is a very important ingredient in sustaining their own mental health and it would be fair to say that having not seen many of these boys since April, or longer, it’s done me the world of good.
Being a Barnet fan is a series of ups and downs, as I’m sure it would be for most fans of lower league clubs. At this moment in time the upward curve is showing little sign of relenting. While I wouldn’t be so bold as to predict that our 7th placed position will 100% maintain or keep improving as the season wears on, it would be fair to observe that the Barnet ship is steady and speeding on nicely. There’s no real reason to doubt that we could do it, particularly on this form.
With that in mind, it’s important for us to continue to savour these footballing times as they usually tend to come and go. Football is cyclical and the pessimist is still scarred by midweek Football League pastings miles from home with 50 of us there. With the impending arrival, it’s unlikely to be until well into next year that I’ll be back for another one, so until then I’ll hand you back to our regular reporter and wish you all the best. That’s why it’s important to enjoy this for what it is, because surely it can’t last forever.
Or can it?
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