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It's Not For Want Of Trying
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Any positives?
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By:
Eric Hitchmo
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20/09/2010
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Saturday's latest defeat was more a case of typical Barnet than this team being poor. It's just like us to have such a stronghold over the game and then somehow conspire to go and lose it 4-1. It's not for want of trying, there was effort and desire in the teams' showing but we've managed to lose 4-1. Capitulation would be an apt word.
For large parts of the game, moreso the second half, it appeared to be only a matter of time until we opened the scoring. Oldest goalkeeper in the world Andy Warrington made a couple of decent saves, including a very good one from Phil Walsh, we hit the bar, we missed sitters, Jordan Parkes shot on sight, from anywhere on the field, we did everything but score. Then we were punished by a scrappy, nothing goal which in all truth, came out of nowhere.
It's hard to take encouragement from a 4-1 reverse at home. There is cause for it, seeing how we managed to cut through a decent Rotherham team on numerous occasions, but the major flipside of that is that we couldn't put the ball in the bloody net. A number of times Mark Marshall worked himself into excellent positions but produced everything except the finish or final ball. He could have easily added to his tally. We were punished in the harshest possible way by a side capable of scoring plenty. Whether the scoreline was flattering or not is an irrelevance, if you don't score, you've got to expect to be beaten.
No-one can deny that the scoreline was flattering. On another day we could have drawn or even won that game with some ease. That said, we can say these things, but when all's said and done it wasn't another day, it was a day we got soundly walloped at home by Rotherham United.
The squad endears itself to me more than last years'. There seems to be a collective desire and will to put things right and turn the results around. They show effort that was not overly prevalent in last years' team. However, we are desperately lacking in depth, and as such we are left weak in key areas of the field. No budget, no depth, but we've already talked about this one at some length. I continue to sound like a broken record. It appears that we are in for another long, hard slog, the sort that will keep an alienated fanbase firmly away from Underhill and away venues for the forseeable future. There is no incentive to go to Morecambe, other than to tick the new ground off. I think I'll let that wait for a while.
It isn't the end of the world though. Despite being the 92nd best club in the Football League, watching games in a rapidly emptying, decaying stadium where the atmosphere is flatter than the proverbial pancake, staring a relegation battle square in the face, The Pavilion is always open to drown the sorrows of those who have left early or cannot even face the prospect of watching the game. When that is what you cling on to it has to be a bit worrying, surely. Still, at least the bar takings will increase. And you can get a bloody decent kebab wrap type thing in there for £2.50. See? it's not all doom and gloom! We could be Grimsby. I don't know about you, but for me it always raises a chuckle when their latest defeat comes through.
Yeah let's not be so negative. There are positives to take from it. I'll try my best to view this as a work in progress, all the pieces of the jigsaw coming together, Rome wasn't build in a day, or whatever phrase you want to use for it. Give it time, they say. I'm sick and tired of writing about being disillusioned with Barnet. My levels of faith are waning, my blind loyalty tested to a level that it has never been, but if we all carry on being negative we're going to develop a level of cynicism which does no-one any good.
So let's all stick on the 2004-2005 DVD again and remind ourselves why we love this club so much. Goodness knows we need a reminder.
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