GREAT MATCHES - LINCOLN CITY 2000-01

BARNET 4-3 LINCOLN CITY

Nationwide Division Three -  28^th October 2000

Attendance 1,641

Lincoln City have always been fierce rivals of our football club ever since we went head to head in the 1987-88 Conference season.

The highlights up until now for Barnet had been the 4-2 victory in that season’s opening game and the 6-0 thrashing dished out as Sincil Bank in 1991. This game had all the excitement of those games plus a little more.

Danny Naisbitt had recently taken over the Number 1 jersey from the legendary Lee Harrison and he was to prove his worth with a stunning last minute penalty save to thwart Gavin Gordon and secure a seven goal thriller victory for Barnet.

Danny Naisbitt

After 26 minutes of the game however John Still’s team were 3-0 down and simply not at the races. A brace from Gordon and a quality curling finish from Richard Peacock had done the damage. Stuart Niven pulled a goal back before half time with a shot from the edge of the box against the run of play but it was obvious that Barnet were missing a recently departed Paul Wilson in midfield and suspended Captain Greg Heald in the heart of the defence.

In a monsoon like downpour during the second half Barnet, playing with the strong wind at their back produced a truly memorable performance to turn the game on its head.

Warren Goodhind

On 52 minutes Warren Goodhind, now back to somewhere near full fitness after sustaining a career threatening broken leg at Hednesford United some two years earlier powered in a header from a Darren Currie corner.

Omer Riza

After 77 minutes the equaliser came after brilliant wing interplay between full back Sam Stockley and Currie. Stockley’s pass found Omer Riza on the right touchline who proceeded to wriggle his way past at least four Imps defenders and coolly slot the ball past Alan Marriott.

Three minutes later the comeback was complete – another deadly accurate corner kick from Currie found an unmarked Tony Richards who had stolen in behind the defence to head the winner.

Tony Richards

The drama was not quite over as the clock ticked into injury time - Mark Arber was adjudged to have fouled Gavin Gordon as he homed in on goal. Danny Naisbitt guessed right and parried the ball to safety.

Barnet: Danny Naisbitt, Sam Stockley, Robbie Sawyers, Mark Arber, Warren Goodhind, John Doolan, Darren Currie, Frazer Toms, Stuart Niven, Tony Richards, Omer Riza.

Subs Lee Harrison, Lee Gledhill, Leon Bell, Wayne Purser and Scott McGleish.

My other abiding memory of the game was from the centre of the ET where I watched that day - 3 seriously moody Lincoln fans were standing among us which of course would not normally be tolerated but a couple of them and one guy in particular was so imposing - he looked like a younger version of Brick Top from the film Snatch. After their second goal, which they all politely applauded rather that have a "disco" he turned to me and said "Mate don't look so glum Lincoln will fuck this up believe me, we've seen it so many times!". With that a Steward about half his size came up and politely suggested that they are in a home area and he would escort them to the away area. "Oh sorry mate we didn't realise it was segregated, lead on.". With that he said to me "Enjoy the game" and disappeared. To this day I often think, was it a front or was he just an ordinary nice geezer?