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That’s Entertainment
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Just really good fun
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By:
Max Bygraves
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25/01/2026
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This article has been viewed 164 times.
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It’s been a while! Having had to miss the game on New Year’s Day at the last minute, it had been a whole 29 days since my last live action away at Newport. I’ll not ask if you’ve missed these, the answer might upset me.
A lot has happened during this unwelcome, unofficial personal winter break. We’ll start with the transfer activity announced in the run up to kick off: Lee Ndlovu is now a Notts County player. A poorly kept secret for the last few days but it has to be said, this one feels quite left field.
He leaves with nothing but the very best wishes from everyone and rightly with cult hero status for his impact on the pitch in last season’s run in and cigar smoking antics in The Tav last April. However, the only transfer I can really compare this to is when Peterborough did an utter madness and bought Liam Hatch off us for £150,000. That is not to be disparaging of Ndlovu, I just wouldn’t have necessarily predicted his next move would be within the Football League. Fair play to him; a move to a bigger club probably on more money and we’ve likely recouped what we paid for him. Everyone’s a winner.
Lee’s departure was clearly now the reason for the arrival of Kabongo Tshimanga this week. More on him later. As well as the two loanees from Orient arriving; perhaps a little less on them for now. It’ll be interesting to see if or what other activity happens between now and the transfer window slamming shut. Never gently closes, does it? Always slams.
Whilst not at any games of late, I had come into contact with a couple of the players recently when they visited my place of work. Oli Hawkins and Kane Smith attended a Q&A session for the youngsters in my establishment last week. A real credit to the football club the pair of them with plenty of humility and humour on show throughout. Several of the said youngsters then had the chance today to accompany the players on the pitch or wave flags as they entered the field. The community work of the club continues to move forward positively with Barnet-based settings.
You may have spotted the youngsters entering the field with the team were all in matching Bring Barnet Back t-shirts. I couldn’t miss that opportunity but it felt particularly apt in light of the announcement this week. Click here to read the full Bring Barnet Back update if you haven’t already.
Whilst the playing fields site is an agreed no go, I can only reiterate the content of the update and say there are positive things happening in the background. A non-abrasive approach is leading to productive conversations and gives reason for optimism. There’s a long way to go but we can get there. Everyone’s response has been positive this week - here’s hoping we can share some alternative site details in the not too distant future with backing from those that we need it from.
Apologies, a ridiculous level of prelude to a game where so much happened. Let’s talk about Barnet v Oldham…
Early on, I wouldn’t have believed you if you’d told me this would end as a memorable, exciting encounter. A dire start saw us trailing after just 11 minutes. And in truth, if by the half hour mark we were 0-3 down, we could have had little complaint.
We looked flat, toothless going forward and there were a lot of very careless passes all over the pitch. It appeared that Oldham would continue to make The Hive a happy hunting ground, having been unbeaten here in their three previous visits.
On our row, we’d not long been making light of the idea of northern blokes in their end hypothetically bemoaning how they weren’t out of sight by half time - particularly if we scored - when we then did. Out of nowhere. Our first attempt on Oldham’s goal saw Glover bundle in from the closest of ranges after Collinge connected with Hartigan’s free kick.
If we thought our luck was in there, real evidence of this came right on the stroke of half time. Another Hartigan free kick saw the skipper decide to try and thump it from range. Quite an un-Hartigan effort. Way too quick to really see it in real time, the ref blew up as the ball cannoned off an Oldham player and went out of play. Corner? Nope. Penalty for handball.
On looking at it back, slowed down, credit where due, the officials got it right. The Latics couldn’t complain and Tshimanga was given the chance to get off the mark for Barnet from 12 yards. He made no mistake. A superbly dispatched penalty into the top corner completed a remarkable first half turnaround.
Half time saw Shelton on against his former side for debutant Jaiyesimi. Oldham do not like him at all, do they? Very amusing. The player he was replacing did not have the most convincing first 45 minutes for us. His fellow Orient team mate, Chinedu also didn’t have the smoothest of afternoons. It wouldn’t be fair to write off either on one short showing. My only question is why the manager felt the need to throw both straight in. Neither improved the side in this one and in at least one case, dislodged a player in very good form from the team. Maybe not all lessons learned from doing this in the summer with new recruits? Gradual rather than mass change seems to work better.
The first big talking point of the second half however involved a tried and tested mainstay. Given the player and his usual calm, composed demeanour and consistent performance, I reckon we could go as far as calling it a ‘moment of madness’ from Nik Tavares.
Last week’s red card (since rescinded) we had every right to argue about. This one, I’m not so sure. It was perhaps a little harsh. On another day might have only been a yellow given where it happened but he took a silly risk and if it was the other way round, we’d have all been baying for a red.
Kizzi immediately replaced Hartigan. It proved to be another assured performance from our back from the dead defender. Someone cleverer than me can surely come up with a chant to the tune of Zombie by The Cranberries for him? Very appropriate. Kizzi, Kizzi, Kizzi…
Anyway, it would seem fitting to stick with the zombie theme when talking about our defending for Oldham’s equaliser. Horrible. An error from the new lad and then acres of space afforded to Jack Stevens to slot past Slicker to make it 2-2. I’m as big an Adam Senior fan as the next person but his positioning for that one will have disappointed him. Like Tavares, a rare moment of not appearing flawless.
It felt like this was an obvious swing of the pendulum in favour of our visitors. In the ascendancy and with a man advantage. Surely only going one way?
Before we got the game very impressively by the scruff of the neck, there was an interlude of time where the situation was beginning to feel a bit comedic. Obviously losing the game would not have been funny, but the stress of a situation like this is a lot less as a mid table team. Smith and then Hawkins being introduced when others remained on the bench, in the moment, felt a bit puzzling. But it was entertaining. Things were getting a bit frantic and there was a sense of fun unpredictability about quite where this was going to go. It helps to approach football with a bit humour, especially at Barnet.
As the clock ticked towards 90, a really fantastic moment that again, I’m not sure anyone really saw coming. We had re-asserted control of the game and Oldham now looked happy to settle for a point. We’d pressed but created little clear cut. Kizzi knocked the ball wide to Glover who made a hopeful charge down the right. He whipped the ball in with real venom. Whether the flight of it deceived the goalkeeper or it was just the way it moved, it was hard to tell in the moment and from the distance of my vantage point.
In Block E, we were up and jumping when the ball had actually only crashed off the inside of the post. The way the keeper fell made the net appear to bulge then. Thankfully, this was more than just an illusion seconds later when Tshimanga followed up to tuck the ball into a near empty net to claim the points. Some really great ensuing scenes in the stand and on the pitch.
Oldham jolted back into life almost immediately and put some pressure on. Given the topsy turvy nature of the game, an equaliser didn’t feel out of the question. The fourth official’s board only displaying five minutes and one particular catch from Slicker were both celebrated significantly. Nothing like a tense ending to get the heart racing.
Right at the death, Hawkins got on the ball in the penalty area. You could almost see his thoughts play out as he ignored his striker’s instinct and used his nous to run the other way to the corner flag. He gets his critics, but it’s clear his experience and know how can offer us a lot in the right scenarios. This was definitely one of them.
You’ve got to love one of those collective roars that are a heady mix of joy and relief when the ref blows for full time. An afternoon that had started quietly had gone on to be one of the most entertaining and satisfying matches of the season so far. Get in.
It’s a quick turnaround with Tranmere Rovers first ever visit to The Hive this Tuesday, before another Saturday-Tuesday the following week, with two more of those in the next three weeks after. Whilst a few fixtures stand out as a particularly tricky ask; the majority are against teams in and around the middle of the table like ourselves. Let’s hope this win gives us the confidence to kick on with a bit of a mini run. Is it completely mad to think we could be nine more points better off in 10 days time?
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