It’s a good time to be a Barnet fan. Though we love a whinge, and we really do love a whinge, it’s important to remember that spells like these don’t come very often. As has been cited several times by my learned DSH colleague, it’s a shame that this team is not enjoying the same level of support as previous Barnet sides of this ilk. We know the reasons why, we don’t need to go over it repeatedly, but let’s hope that if this purple patch continues that the crowds will return for the run-in and beyond.
One thing that does generally hold up well is our away support, particularly when it’s a ground that Barnet haven’t played at before. So with Boston’s new ground to visit there was sure to be several familiar old individuals out for a rare away day, myself included.
Mine is the same old story as it was before. Stuck in Ireland watching Barnet on National League TV, one-year-old in tow and a freshly committed mortgage. I ain’t coming home permanently any time soon. While I still retain the same occasional frustration with how we play, the results cannot be argued with and in fact since the last game I attended (Solihull away in October) it has been sharpened to a point of near-perfection.
We are brilliant to watch at times, petrifying numerous visiting teams to The Hive into parking their buses in front of the empty stands to try and prevent the inevitable pass-them-to-death barrage. Some of the signings on top of last year’s excellent runner-up squad have been fantastic. Nik Tavares a rock at the back. Ryan Glover a flicky tricky trickster on the wing. Myles Kenlock a near ever-present dependable force on the left of the back three. Mark Shelton a really astute acquisition roaming around the centre of the park. The loss of Nicke Kabamba and even the likes of Harry Pritchard earlier in the season have done little to cramp our style, thanks to these excellent additions to the team. Here I was lamenting our defending, but we have conceded just ten goals in seventeen competitive home games. In no season in our history have we conceded so few at this stage of a season at home.
It’s been our away form that has been our Achilles heel this season but even in recent months we have improved considerably. That miserable defeat at Solihull was followed by a rough night at fellow title contenders York City. After that we were unbeaten in the next fifteen league games, a run not seen since 1977, only losing away from home in the FA Cup having given League One Exeter a right going over and in the FA Trophy at Altrincham where a rotated XI got that distraction out of the way. We are hitting our groove at the right time as we approach the business end of the season, winning pretty, winning ugly and even learning how to not lose when not at our best (Sutton).
Boston United enjoyed and endured a topsy turvy noughties. They achieved two promotions in three seasons to join the Football League in 2002 after an epic battle with Dagenham and Redbridge. By 2007 though they were in administration and were relegated two leagues to the National League North. After a demotion, they were in the Northern Premier League but quickly went back up before spending over a decade and five failed playoff campaigns before finally returning to Non-League’s elite in the playoffs last season. In that time they’ve also moved to a new stadium.
As such we hadn’t played them in 17 years since a New Year’s Day defeat at their old York Street ground in League Two. Yes I was there. Yes that’s how I spent my New Year’s Days back then. I quite liked their old ground, an old-skool, random mish-mash of stands. I can’t say I remember much of the town however, so today was a chance to experience Boston, Lincolnshire all over again. It would be an early start to do so, with the town notoriously tricky to get to on public transport. So it was a 0923 start at Kings Cross to get there via Grantham.
There was a micropub in Grantham station which provided much excitement for the boys who’d made a good start on the train. A genius idea. After a whistle stop pint, we moved onto the slow train to Skegness which stopped in all sorts of random northern outposts, one of them being Boston. Several Bees fans had the same idea and it was a boisterous atmosphere on the train as local travellers looked on bewildered by it all.
As we pulled into Boston, we made our way into a pub over the road from the station which I believe was called The Eagle. It had no name on the front which never fills you with confidence about what’s within. However, it had beer, a pool table and dart boards. What’s not to like?
After a couple of hours we made our way to the shuttle bus which takes people from the town to the ground which is situated on the outskirts, as is the case for many new stadia these days. A sign of the times that a football ground can be plonked in the middle of nowhere with a retail part around it. The ground itself is a functional affair. Three sided for now, it has two shallow terraces behind the goal and on the side with a bog standard main stand on the camera side. Full of character it is not, but then what new ground really is?
The boisterous atmosphere from the train had clearly been encouraged by a few more hours in the local watering holes as the concourse filled up with a strong away turnout. I was quite puzzled, as were others, when it was later announced as 294 away fans. On a terrace that supposedly holds 600, I would like to know where another 300 would’ve fit given how busy it was. Still, not one to get too worried about is it?
For whatever reason the pre-match atmosphere didn’t really carry over to the game as we were served up a dire afternoon of football. At this stage I am strongly considering not coming back this season as for whatever reason I seem to have been able to pick some of the worst games in recent times to attend. This is not in protest, more that I don’t want to curse it any more. Perhaps the game dulled the atmosphere somewhat, as seemingly nothing of note happened.
There was one thing. With five minutes of the first half left to play, Danny Collinge went in for a 50-50 with a Boston forward who came off second best from what appeared to be a late challenge. It was hard to see from our angle but it looked like they were both trying to play the ball. From replays, it was clear that Collinge slipped and caught the guy halfway up the leg as he played it. The referee brandished our first red card of the season in Collinge’s 100th game for the club. It’s hard to argue it looking back, certainly more unfortunate than malicious, but it made the task of breaking Boston down that much harder.
From there on, it seemed like both sides were content to play out a 0-0. Truth be told there were very few openings, save for some pressure from the home side late on, but new keeper Owen Evans was rarely tested. That is true of the home keeper too, as our usual flow of play was disrupted by the loss of a man. If we’re honest though, we didn’t really look like scoring when we had 11 on the pitch either. It was just one of those days.
What we can take from it is that it’s another point and another clean sheet. Six in a row now in the league, a very rare occurrence for us, and 16 unbeaten in the league. Perhaps more than that though we displayed a lot of grit and determination to hold firm and keep the point, even if it was against a team in 23rd place. It was a test unlike many we’ve had this season so to come out of it with a result is a positive. Again it feels like one of those we might have lost last season but this year we are seemingly built differently.
It’s another sign of the times that we can be disappointed despite this. For so many years when travelling to away games, I was resigned to defeat on the journey up, so it’s almost a novelty to be able to go into games with an expectation of victory and to feel deflated if it doesn’t happen. Perhaps it’s the exile, perhaps it’s the fact we’re top or perhaps it’s something to do with the fact that Dean Brennan has completely changed the mood around the club in the last three years. We’ve gone from precisely nowhere to title challengers in that time which is no mean feat. His approach and his tone may not always be to my personal tastes but you can’t argue with the outcome. Besides, does it really matter what I think? It’s a results business after all, and he certainly passes that test.
As such the journey home was relatively muted, certainly compared to the atmosphere on the way up. It’s always nice to be home rolling back the years with the boys. There may not be many of us, but we’ve still got a strong core support who love their away days. If and when we Bring Barnet Back, we can only hope and pray that the next generation and more will come and support us so these days out continue the way they are.
The chasing pack kept up the pressure with three points across the board. Forest Green Rovers scored in the last minute AGAIN to beat Eastleigh and York were comfortable victors over Woking. We now encounter a really tricky run of fixtures with two home games against Solihull and a huge clash with York on Tuesday week. I only hope that we go against our usual Tuesday crowds for what will be the biggest game of the season so far. Following on from that are two tough away trips to Rochdale and Oldham on respective weekends. If we can come out of this run unscathed and avoid defeat against York, it should hopefully set us up nicely for the run-in. Easier said than done, though we certainly shouldn’t fear anyone at home.
It’s likely that for the remainder of the season we I be handing back to my colleague as life events dictate it’s unlikely I’ll be back before the season is out. As mentioned, based on my results record there’s no point me rushing back. It’ll be back to National League TV, trying not to pull out what’s left of my rapidly fading hairline, willing us on from afar.
It’s not often we get to enjoy seasons like this, so for what it’s worth, let’s collectively back these boys all the way to a fourth National League title. It’s gonna be a proper fight.
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