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Flat
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Like a bad dog owner, holding a lead is a problem.
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By:
Max Bygraves
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30/11/2025
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This article has been viewed 51 times.
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The title of this article is not to be overly-reactionary or to paint the picture of a crisis. Flat was simply the word that came up to describe many things about our draw with Harrogate.
Pre-match, after some pleasant surprise the game survived a morning of relentless downpour (this was my experience near Barnet, maybe it wasn’t as bad in our far flung temporary base), I found myself asking the following question. Is this a big day for anyone?
What I meant by this was, was there anyone who had hugely psyched themselves up for Barnet v Harrogate Town? I just couldn’t imagine home or away fans meeting early, on the beers and ‘absolutely buzzing,’ about the prospect in store. In the event, I think I got my answer - with the players included in this apathy.
Harrogate are a side I’d not seen us play before. Our prior clashes with them all happened when I was living abroad. I had actually seen them once way back in 2008 when at university. On that occasion, they were visiting Hucknall Town in the Conference North and came away with a last minute winner in a diabolical game of football in front of 300 people. They’ve come a fair way.
A football league club since their Covid behind closed doors Wembley win in 2020, they’ve done well to establish themselves in League 2 and largely stay out of too much danger.
They’ve put themselves in the Accrington category. Everyone’s lazy tip for relegation due to size and fanbase but up to now, they’ve defied the odds and competed well. It remains to be seen whether this season will be one too far - on the evidence of this game, you’d imagine they’ll be in the mix but they showed doggedness that could make the difference come May. Their nickname is The Sulphurites by the way. That was news to me. Due to the spa town’s sulphur springs, says the internet.
Upon arrival at the ground, I made use of the recently installed mini club shop at the turnstile. I have to commend the spread of things on offer there, a smart move by the club. A tradition has now become to buy friends’ new babies one of those squashy little stress footballs with the Barnet badge on. Convenient size and weight for when they’re first able to knock it about. Given I’ve purchased a couple of these for my own kids in the past and others, my purchase history from the club shop paints a very high blood pressure picture. They’re not being used for stress, honest.
As alluded to already, Harrogate are one of the smaller sides in the division and this reflected in a very sparse away end. There was plenty of room in there but at the same time, it did appear they were practicing social distancing. Maybe something they had to do when they first came up that they’ve stuck with? It was as mild mannered a following as you might expect for a town most famous for quaint tea shops. Ooh Betty.
“Poo on toast.” Quite the soundbite from Dean Brennan’s post match interview when describing the first twenty minutes. However, hard to really disagree. It was a turgid opening with the main point of note being a fine save from Slicker in the eleventh minute to deny the visitors an early lead.
On twenty minutes, Britt Assombolonga, starting his first league game at The Hive had a decent effort from outside the box. This was thankfully a pretty immediate sign of things to come.
Just three minutes later, in very similar fashion, the experienced striker fashioned himself a chance with some clever footwork and this time slotted confidently past the Harrogate keeper. 1-0. It was about as a demonstrative example as possible of what having a player of this sort of pedigree should offer us. For all Ndlovu’s endeavour, it’s hard to picture him scoring one like that.
We were in the ascendancy now and it looked as though things would go to plan. Given Harrogate were as far out as 9/1 with the bookies earlier in the week, it’s fair to say we were favourites.
Just before half time, a huge opportunity to good as put the game to bed. Some dribbling and what you might call clever play from Idris Kanu earned a penalty. It was a foul but it was soft and Idris completely bought it by using a bit of nous. You’d be annoyed to have it awarded against you but there could be little argument.
What happened next was a surprise. The usually assured, flawless Mark Shelton ended his 100% penalty conversion rate. He changed from his usual side and the keeper guessed correctly. Still in front, but a chance blown.
The second half began in a similar vein to the first. It felt like a very low quality game of football was being played in a poor atmosphere. I’m not sure if it was the lack of a boisterous away following or just that no one was that bothered about Barnet playing Harrogate but it was the flattest The Hive has been in a while. It felt a bit like a midweek match in the National League a couple of seasons ago. Never a great sign when you can hear the players when sat near the top of the stand.
Barnet were the better side and Harrogate offered no threat. Two real flashpoints were the non-award of what appeared to be two blatant penalties. Whether the ref was trying to ‘level things up,’ due to feeling bad about the earlier one or just inept, it was unclear. Assombolonga appeared to be completely taken out and get nothing with Kanu similarly clearly fouled in the box.
It was a frustrating watch but not all negative. What someone who knows more about the tactical aspect might call decent ‘patterns of play,’ were on show. What I mean is, we passed the ball about very nicely and some of the one touch bits were good to watch. There was imagination but no end product. Substitutions didn’t do much to change this. Assombolonga being withdrawn felt like a debatable call given his evident ability to conjure something from nothing.
It was an extremely disappointing twist on proceedings with just under quarter of an hour left. Defending for no one to be particularly proud of allowed Jack Muldoon an equaliser against the run of play.
There was never any threat of them nicking it but you also got the sense it was one of those days where we could still be playing now and we wouldn’t find a winner. All credit to Harrogate’s defensive efforts. Some bodies on the line throw yourself at anything defending was enough for them to hang on.
A valuable and unexpected point for the struggling Sulphurites but a very frustrating one for us. Five consecutive draws. What is a little disappointing is that in the four games in this run where there have been goals, we’ve led in all of them. The league table could look very different if we’d held on to at least a few of them.
In the moment, it was a “for fuck sake,” type of reaction and feel leaving the ground. With the smallest amount of time and perspective, it’s not the end of the world.
Yes, it was a bit of a flat afternoon all round. Yes, we’d like to turn these draws into wins but are we in any sort of crisis? Absolutely not. This was the first draw recently where there is a real sense of frustration at not taking all three points - but we’re not losing. We don’t look like losing.
We found out very quickly there is a significant step up to this division. We’ve found our feet fairly impressively after that initial rude awakening. This goes for the manager too. You only have to look at some of the recent outgoings to see that he didn’t get it all right in the summer but with perhaps argument on one or two still, he’s clearly rectified things.
As much as we all want another exciting promotion chase, if this turns into a season of consolidation that’s absolutely fine. It’s not as easy to speak so rationally when you concede a late goal against a lowly team who’ve had no chances, but in the cold light of day, this realistic approach is best for all. It only takes a few decent results in a row for things to change for the better very quickly; let’s continue to enjoy being back in League 2 and see where it takes us.
An extended break now with no FA Cup game next Saturday. Next Sunday, try and get yourself along to the Barnet Christmas Fayre on the High Street. Bring Barnet Back will be there with a stall. Your support and Barnet colours at this event will really help send the message about the importance of the club’s return. Keep an eye out for some updated literature we’ll be distributing there about possible alternatives within Barnet if it’s not to be the playing fields. Hopefully an exciting 2026 ahead on this front.
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