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Flipping Hell
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The archetypal game of two halves
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By:
Max Bygraves
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18/02/2026
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This article has been viewed 163 times.
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This was the second time that we’ve played Swindon on pancake day. Just me that spotted that pre-kick off? In 2007, Ollie Allen’s goal was enough to secure a 1-0 win at Underhill. It looked like we were in the mix to repeat that feat again. At one stage, it looked like we might even batter them. Shame it was a crepe second half. I’ll stop now.
We’d never played Swindon before 2006 but this was our 12th meeting in just shy of 20 years. A fairly regular adversary in the modern day given how little time we’ve actually spent in the same division. Defeats have been the most dominant outcome with a few memorable victories along the way. As much as we’ve met them as equals a few times, you have to say they’re one that do feel like real bigger boys than us. They were in the Premier League, doncha know?
It was a bitterly cold night in Harrow but at least a dry one. A novelty in itself of late. I was seemingly one of the lucky ones avoiding various traffic hell locally which led to a few late arrivals. The Deansbrook four-way traffic lights got me on the way home, though. The bi-weekly Bring Barnet Back reminder.
The game itself got off to a near perfect start. We started brightly and on the front foot. A lovely cross by Kanu, a deft header down by Shelton and an absolutely wonderful half volley from the magic man, Adam Senior, had us 1-0 up in the first ten minutes. Our top scorer from defence did it again. He is ridiculous (in a good way), isn’t he?
Senior’s cracking strike set the tone for a thoroughly enjoyable first half viewing experience. We were dominant and in control - yet couldn’t make it count. Kizzi went agonisingly close just before the half hour mark and shortly after former Swindon man Ofoborh was denied an audacious volleyed effort by the post. Some moment that would have been.
Nevertheless, spirits were high as we went into the break. An entertaining forty five minutes and we looked very much in control. I may have uttered that I had a slight sense of deja vu at this point. It’s not the first time we’ve flown out the traps this season only to then lament not taking chances. But that wouldn’t happen here, would it? Nah. Half time saw a queue-free bar - a mate simply walked up and got a beer during the interval. This really was a special evening. Half time chat consisted of looking ahead to some upcoming away days and just a courtesy check of the League 2 play off final date.
This is what football does to you. Toys with you. Mocks you. Gives you that taste of optimism and hope and then snatches it away from you. Torturous but glorious for when it does all turn out alright. Would you have it any other way?
The torturous point was very well visually explained when Mark Shelton had the whole of the goal to aim at but passed it wide of the post just three minutes after the restart. The very definition of a sitter. It would prove pivotal.
Just moments later, with their first chance on Slicker’s goal, Swindon drew level. Their skipper Ollie Clarke has been in the headlines for some interesting reasons of late. Prompting one of the greatest interviews of the season with an apoplectic Ian Holloway a few weeks back. Back from a ban, Clarke was grabbing goals rather than body parts on this occasion.
I say goals rather than just the equaliser as by the 62nd minute, Clarke had grabbed a pair. Swindon had turned it around thanks to a fine finish from just inside the box. I don’t claim to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the teams or players in this league, but I feel qualified enough to say he looks like a pretty decent footballer.
We were all sat there shaking our heads this point. You can only imagine Brennan’s choice of words from behind the Perspex upstairs.
Our response to was to make a raft of changes but on the night, it was almost a competition of ineffectiveness between them. We’d huffed and we’d puffed well in the first half. This was just hot air now; we had no ideas left and Swindon looked resolute. It’s not a coincidence they’re in the automatic spots although make no mistake, if one of those other chances had gone in for us, this may well have played out differently.
Not really one for calling out players negatively, but we are now nearly seven months into a nine month campaign. Think judgements can be legitimately made. Ben Winterburn is the most anonymous player I think I have ever seen in a Barnet shirt. If I’ve missed a contribution along the way, please do correct me, but I am struggling to remember more of a passenger. His pass completion in this game was like playing with ten men. I’ve waited patiently to see something to suggest he’s on the fringes of a Premier League team but I think we may need to accept now we’re not going to witness it. This could be one I’ve got howlingly wrong but on the evidence we’ve seen, I’d say there’s more chance of him being a regular at Poole Town in the next few years than Bournemouth. For his sake, let’s hope that comment comes back to bite me.
Something that was apparent with the substitutes and options in attack was the fact that we’re opting not to use our best available attacking option beyond the goals of Tshimanga. There is no chance that Brennan will bring Callum Stead back in from the cold now. Bridge building not really his style. However, I don’t think it’s a particularly bold or controversial claim to say he would have offered more than any* of the five subs that came on. Whilst he didn’t set League 2 alight, a contribution of six goals puts him amongst our higher scorers and a better option than several others.
*Asterisk next to Howland who we don’t know much about so far.
Ultimately, the way the game panned out summed up the season in a number of ways. That’s not to say we should be hugely despondent or that we’ve had a bad year, by the way. We’ve shown we absolutely can compete at this level but that we don’t have anywhere near the same level of killer instinct as the best teams. We are not as good as the likes of Swindon, yet, but we can give them a decent game.
Mid table would be a good first season. This is a bit of a repetitive comment by now I appreciate. But it’s a bit of rational perspective after a defeat. If you are a mid table team you very literally win some and you lose some.
On the bracing walk back to the car, The Wardrobe and I were in philosophical mood. It’s disappointing to lose and it’s harder to take when you’ve got used to winning. Successive seasons of finishing 5th, 2nd and then 1st are not something we are very accustomed to. It makes you a bit spoilt. It naturally makes you want more.
When you look back over the three season growth, culminating in the title win, we got a bit better every year. Now despite the fact that being in the place we are now is as good as it’s been in our recent history, there is an argument to look at this season as perhaps the start of the next cycle of growth. Finish 11/12th this year, kick onto maybe the plays off in another year and then who’s to say it couldn’t be a top 3 finish the one after? Given the consistent trajectory of the past few years under Brennan, it’s not the most ridiculous notion.
Hard to be patient when you like winning, though. Onto Colchester away. Some would say a mid table nothing encounter with 12th hosting 11th. Others may more optimistically say it’s a crunch clash in a last chance saloon for a play off charge for the victors. I’ll tell you which camp I’m in after Saturday.
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