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As soon as I come home, we hit the buffers…
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By:
Eric Hitchmo
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20/10/2024
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This article has been viewed 511 times.
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I must confess that my enthusiasm for football had been dampened over the summer. The horror show of last season’s finale at home to Solihull was only compounded by a mediocre Euros where England limped unconvincingly to the final and just when we allowed ourselves to believe, lost it late. The common denominator? Hope. As always, it’s the hope that kills you. Those two things combined meant I was barely paying attention as the curtain raiser approached.
Our start to the season didn’t exactly fan the flames of passion, but maybe that’s me down to me being miserable and exiled. It takes time to get into it when you’re not there. We had a perfectly acceptable start, winning three of the first four before abruptly coming unstuck at Maidenhead. A smashing response in the form of a 7-0 victory over Tamworth was followed by a frustrating defeat at Gateshead which left us with three defeats from our opening seven.
Frustrating is the word I would use to describe us at times. For the vast majority of the time, we are great to watch, there is no doubt about it. But with our domination of the ball, there is the occasional frustration that we aren’t more direct. Defensively we still look weak under pressure and/or counter attacks.
Where would you say we were in the league based on the above paragraph? 12th? It certainly isn’t a fully accurate or fair summary of a team who are again at the top of the table, chasing at the very least a third playoff campaign in a row. I fully accept that the frustration I feel is largely misplaced and probably a side effect of having to watch it on the telly every week. That frustration that some fans have reached its boiling point when we went 1-0 down to Altrincham at The Hive in September and some choice words were apparently levelled at Dean Brennan from the new safe-standing area behind him.
Brennan, who has a tendency to offer his frank opinion in post-match interviews, did not hold back after we nicked an injury time winner. In the now infamous “character” rant, he called out fans for whinging, not turning up on Tuesdays and defended his record fiercely.
It wasn’t exactly the approach I would have taken in that situation. In summary, I think there were some good points made badly. In any case, it’s done now, it’s ancient history. If some aggy post-match interviews are the worst we have to deal with, I’m sure we can live with it if the results are right.
In simple terms, perhaps it would be prudent of us to remember just where we were before Dean Brennan took charge three years ago, or the “twittering idiots” saga, or even how close many people were to throwing in the towel in the latter stages of the 2021-2022 season when Brennan was still in the early stages of his tenure and results weren’t overly pretty. Seriously, go back and look at the collective meltdown we all had around February 2022. It seems scarcely imaginable that we’d be in this position barely three years later.
Whatever you think of said rant, it the desired effect on the pitch. That Altrincham game was the first of a six-game winning run in the league, the first such run since September 2004. We beat Braintree, Wealdstone, and Aldershot. The win over Fylde was attended by almost 2500 as a result of £5 tickets encouraged by Brennan’s impassioned feedback. Boston were beaten as well at The Hive to make it seven from our first seven home league games which has only happened three times in our history.
Many of these teams are near the bottom end of the table but you can only beat what’s in front of you and we surged back to the top of the league. Because that’s where we belong. An interruption in the form of the FA Cup followed against Chelmsford which resulted in another win; 4-0. Seven consecutive wins in all competitions, a run not seen since September 1999. But I know best ‘cos I think we should cross it more often.
Opportunities to come home and revel in the fun have been limited for me in the last year, what with a ten-month old boy in tow. A solo flying visit presented itself as an opportunity to take in my first game of the season at Solihull which is a new ground for me. Always nice to get another tick. After a customary several Guinness’ on Friday morning at Dublin Airport, a sizeable group of ageing men congregated at London Euston for the 10:40 train on Saturday morning.
Solihull is a place I am loosely familiar with and it was perfectly acceptable for a few pre-match pints. The high street was about as generic as it gets but towards the top end of the town was far nicer, idyllic even. An interesting accompaniment was a march through the town of some local youngsters chanting in favour of Moors with flares. The display from lads with average age of about 14 failed to intimidate those of us enjoying some autumn sun at the front of the pub. As they got around the corner, “Barnet get battered everywhere they go” chimed up to laughs from all of us who stood there distinctly unbattered.
An eventful Uber ride to the ground followed which ended up with a locked account for the crime of manually shutting an automatic door. Said account holder spent most of the first half onto the support team to unlock it. The ground is quite peculiar with two shallow terraces at either end, a decent sized bank of uncovered green seats (think the old South Stand) and a double decker main stand where the hospitality is directly over the seats below. The location is quite odd too, stuck on a main road between Solihull and the airport.
A good number of Barnet fans congregated in and around the bar area and the atmosphere was decent enough as the teams entered the field. We started well, as we have done in most games this season. Early pressure led to several corners which created some half chances before Nicke Kabamba pounced on a loose ball outside the box and fired a lovely finish past ex-Barnet keeper Laurie Walker to give us a deserved lead and sparked some fun celebrations.
The early dominance did not last as Solihull worked their way slowly back into the game. Although they have not shown the same form as last season so far, they are clearly a decent side with the number four, Osborne, running the show in midfield. Nik Tavares committed a foul on the edge of the box and injured himself in the process, being subbed for Joe Kizzi. The resulting free kick led to the most basic goal you’ll ever see, with a simple floated ball to the back post nodded in by Jack Stevens, who was completely unmarked, to level the game.
In an instant, Solihull broke again and a ball across the box was not dealt with. In the ensuing pinball melee the ball bounced in off Kizzi to give the home side the lead. Within three minutes of coming on as a sub, he’d scored an own goal and conceded another. Not ideal. Our early dominance squandered, it was enough for several of us who headed straight to the bar. To compound matters they wouldn’t serve us until the half time whistle, but they did pre-pour the pints. I will take any and all opportunity to mention pre-pouring pints thank you.
While this team is clearly very good when things are going our way, question marks do remain over games like this where we seem to fold under pressure, particularly against better sides. We started the second half reasonably but it was again undone ten minutes in when we were hit on the counter attack. Sam Bowen raced through on goal, left Nick Hayes on his backside and made it 3-1. A tough ask was getting even tougher and prompted one or two grumbles amongst the away contingent who had been silenced.
We huffed and puffed but again seemed determined to blow our own house down, Solihull had a couple of good chances to make it four and did so with a quarter of an hour to play. A loose ball in the box fell to the feet of James Gale who slotted into the empty net to end the game as a contest. Strangely reminiscent of the playoff disaster last season, we had capitulated and many of us had seen enough at this point.
Birmingham International was not a million miles away, but the Wetherspoons part of the airport/NEC complex certainly was. We were made to work for our pint by walking for what seemed like an eternity, surrounded by people who had been to the National Motorhome and Caravan Exhibition, further delayed by the Wetherspoons app. Note for future, queue at the bar like a normal person. The notifications had popped up for Brunt and Kabamba’s stoppage time goals, and for a second you were thinking “surely not”. I have never been properly punished for leaving a game early and this one would have been ridiculous, but it wasn’t to be and we ended the day with a fourth defeat of the season. Of course it would be the one I came back for. We had very little time to drink up before heading back to the train at 6pm.
Despite the result, all in our group were in good form on the way home. The same can’t be said for everyone on social media who offered Laurie Walker some feedback after he celebrated the win. He got a pretty good reception in the ground, sharing in some banter, and as far as I’m concerned he’s perfectly entitled to celebrate. We will perhaps never know the circumstances behind his sudden exit from the team and eventual departure, but if we go on the assumption that he fell out with the manager, he was always going to find the win that bit sweeter. I like many others was a big fan of Walker and am unconvinced that we have upgraded in this department since he was dropped. All a bit unnecessary.
In London the group parted ways and we carried on in Liverpool Street meeting up with others who couldn’t make the game. Away days are a rarity now and I ain’t getting any younger, so to get home without falling asleep can be considered a victory. That’s not good enough for three points though.
It’ll be back to National League TV for me the foreseeable as I’m unlikely to be back again this year. It’s frustrating, but it is what it is. Even if we are liable to the odd performance like this, we are still a very good team and I’m confident we will be in the mix come April. We have to ride a very tricky run of fixtures in the next few weeks starting with a top of the table clash at York this Tuesday night. That next few weeks will be a true test of our mettle and I do feel we’ve a point to prove around our resilience against the better sides, particularly away from home.
There are so many reasons to be optimistic on the field at the moment and we really ought to enjoy these good times while they last. As Barnet fans we do like to have the odd moan, even when we are top, and I’m no exception. Games like yesterday are always going to happen, and at the moment they are happening so infrequently that they almost take you by surprise. I remember a time where we were getting beaten seemingly every week. If we can’t enjoy being top of the league we need to question why we’re even watching games!
Let’s show some character on Tuesday and bounce back with a positive performance. On and off the pitch.
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