This review appeared in the Barnet Football Club Programme on 2nd January 2017 for the match versus Plymouth Argyle. Barnet won 1-0 with a goal from Mauro Vilhete.
9th
in Sky Bet League 2 just after Christmas 2016 with a interim
Management Team just taken over, would you have taken that back in
January?
JANUARY
New
Years Day and a defeat at Northampton Town 3-0.18th place
in the table was “Disappointing” according to Martin Allen!
Loanee Goalkeeper Ian Lawlor returned to Manchester City after a five
game spell. Gavin Hoyte bought smiles to the Hive scoring in a 1-0
win over Bristol Rovers which preceded two 0-0 draws at home To
Carlisle United and away to Stevenage. In other news Kevin Lisbie and
Aaron McLean left the club by mutual consent and new faces were Alie
Sesay, Chris Hackett and Mark Randall.
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| Gavin Hoyte |
FEBRUARY
The
four games this month were a mixed bag – a solid 2-0 win at
Dagenham & Redbridge (Michael Nelson and Luke Gambin) was
followed by a home defeat to AFC Wimbledon (Matt Stevens). High
flying Portsmouth came to town and were dispatched 1-0 courtesy of a
John Akinde penalty, his 11th League goal thus far, before
a 2-2 draw Accington Stanley (Gambin and Akinde) after trailing 0-2.
Another new face arrived in the shape of Full Back James Pearson from
Leicester City. At the end of the month we had moved up to 15th.
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| James Pearson |
MARCH
Andy
Yiadom scored in a dogged 1-0 win at home to Plymouth before a
frankly poor 1-3 defeat performance four days later, also at home, to
Hartlepool United. Fumnaya Shomoton scored his first goal for the
club.
Goals from Randall, Yiadom and Akinde featured in a 3-0 win at
Newport County while from another long trip, this time to York, we
returned with a 1-1 draw (Akinde). A week later the big attendance at
home to Oxford United witnessed a clinical 3-0 win for the O's. A
Friday night in Exeter gave us a Curtis Weston goal in a 1-1 draw but
we saved the best for last as a last gasp John Akinde penalty in
front of another big attendance at the Hive (over 4,000) won it
against Luton Town 2-1. Luke Gambin scored the opener.
Goalkeeper
Jamie Stephens signed a new deal while striker James Roberts arrived
from Oxford United for a month.
Tragedy
struck the club too with the passing of 19 year old supporter Chris
East which had a profound effect on supporters – touching tributes
poured in and he will be much missed.
 |
| Chris East |
APRIL
Michael
Gash's brace was not enough in the 4-2 defeat at Morecambe but the
following week John Akinde's two goals and an effort from Sam Togwell
put paid to Leyton Orient at the Hive 3-0. A 1-1 draw at Wycombe
Wanderers (Yiadom) followed before another fine win by 3-1 at home to
Notts County (Akinde, Randall and Yiadom). The 1-1 draw at Mansfield
Town (Akinde) was a point for some pride in reality as Barnet had
confirmed their mid lower table finish by this point. However a super
game was next up as Yeovil Town pipped us 4-3 (Akinde 2 and Gash) at
the Hive.
In
other news brothers Harry (left) and Jack Taylor (right) signed new deals while
First Team Coach Gary Waddock accepted a managerial post at Aldershot
Town.
MAY
The
final game at Crawley Town featured two more goals from John Akinde
and another from Elliott Johnson in a very comfortable 3-0 victory.
15th
place in the table was, in my opinion, a little disappointing after
the euphoria of the previous seasons' Conference win but a satisfied
sense of “consolidation” seemed to surround the club!
Jamie
Stephens was deservedly awarded the Player of the Year while John
Akinde, arguably was now placed amongst the Barnet FC “Greats”,
scored 23 league goals (24 in all) to go with his 30 (33 in all) the
previous season.
The
closed season's first big news was the move to Barnsley of the much
admired Andy Yiadom who had made 181 appearances since signing from
Braintree in 2012 while Michael Nelson, Curtis Weston, Bondz N'Gala
and Sam Togwell signed new deals while the new £3 Million North
Stand started to take shape.
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| Jamie Stephens |
JUNE
& JULY
New
arrivals in time for pre-season included striker Alex Nicholls from
Exeter City, a season long loan Goalkeeper Josh Vickers from Swansea
City and Ryan Watson, a midfielder previously with Leicester City
plus James Russell joining as new Assistant Manager. John Akinde's
reward for two outstanding seasons was a new three deal. Departures
included long serving goalkeeper Graham Stack, Mark Randall and
Matthew Stevens.
 |
| Alex Nicholls |
AUGUST
10
victories from 14 pre season games set up an opening Sky Bet League 2
fixture at Cambridge United. Substitute Alex Nicholls, with screamer
won a point for the Bees in a 1-1 draw. The squad had two more new
faces in striker Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro from Shrewsbury Town and
winger Jamal Campbell-Ryce from Sheffield United. The first home
fixture was a 2-0 victory over Accrington Stanley (Akinde and
Akpa-Akpro) while two more 1-1 draws followed - at the Hive to
Blackpool and away at Crawley – Akinde scoring in both games. The
visit of Carlisle United was less successful, the Bees going down 1-0
in a frankly poor encounter. A defeat at Millwall 0-4 ended Barnet's
League Cup dreams while a 2-2 draw in the much discussed EFL Trophy
at MK Dons finished the month, seeing the team 13th in the
table.
A
bid of allegedly £100,000 was received from Leyton Orient for
Maltese International Luke Gambin. He is still at the Hive at the
time of writing! On a sadder note it was reported that the popular
striker Michael Gash would miss the remainder of the season suffering
crucial ligament damage in the game at home to Accrington.
 |
| Michael Gash |
SEPTEMBER
A
waterlogged pitch and a half time abandonment greeted the boys in
Newport South Wales with the game poised at 0-1 to Barnet, another
goal from Akinde too! However a week later yet another Akinde goal
secured an excellent 3 points at Mansfield Town. Two more home draws,
1-1 against Colchester United (Weston) and 2-2 Morecambe (Akinde 2)
were split by a very frustrating 1-5 reverse at Portsmouth. An Akinde
penalty opened the scoring but the game ended ten men versus eleven
as Bira Dembele was sent off.
The
Bees now occupied 17th position in the table.
 |
| Rodney Poolrade |
OCTOBER
Norwich
City visited the Hive in the EFL Trophy and plundered 5 goals without
return three days after the new North Stand was opened to accommodate
the visiting fans of Leyton Orient. We all witnessed a 0-0 draw.
Nearly 5,000 watched the 2-3 defeat at Doncaster Rovers (Dembele and
Gambin) and then we dropped to 23rd in the table loosing
at home to Exeter City 1-4 (Akinde). Yet the boys rallied to record a
fine 2-0 (Mauro Vilhete and Akinde) win at Wycombe Rovers, a 2-2
(Akinde 2) draw at Newport in the rearranged game plus an
entertaining 3-2 win over Hartlepool at the Hive. Shaun Batt scored
his first goal in a Bees shirt accompanied by Gambin and or course
Akinde.
Barnet
had partially recovered to a much more respectable 14th.
In
other news Sam Togwell was to undergo surgery, which would keep him
out of action for two months while amazingly third choice Goalkeeper
Kai McKenzie-Lye was called up for his county Guyana and scored on
his debut!
 |
| Kai McKenzie-Lye |
NOVEMBER
With
two wins and two draws in November the unbeaten run in the League was
extended to eight games and a rise in the table from 23rd to 8th.
Away at Grimsby John Akinde was on target twice again, both were
penalties, this proceeded a 0-0 draw at home to Crewe Alexandra. Two
victories followed. Away at Plymouth 2-0 (Dembele and Akinde) and
then a 3-2 home win over Notts County (Gambin 2 and Dembele). In the
FA Cup a 0-3 defeat at Shrewsbury Town was disappointing, however
there was a feeling of “Glad that is over” after the defeat at
home to Peterborough United in the EFL Trophy, only 393 watched the
game. A message from fans to the organisers to go with many others
from around the country? History was made in that game however as
Pascal Dwight became the youngest ever player to represent Barnet FC
– 15 years and 250 days.
Young
forward Ephron Mason-Clarke signed professional forms with the club
while the popular Centre Back Bondz N'Gala completed a £60,000 move
to Vanarama National Eastleigh. Bonzo had made 114 appearance for the
Bees scoring 2 goals.
And.............there
was more drama just around the corner!
 |
| Bondz N'Gala |
DECEMBER
Martin
Allen had been manager at Barnet four times now, each term he cooked
up something to get excited about. His departure to Eastleigh on the
1st December ( his 8th club as Manager in 13
years) took a lot of people by surprise if only for the fact that
Barnet were now just one place below the Pay offs, a tremendous turn
around in just six weeks. Martin engineered our return to the
Football League so that's probably a good enough return for our
investments over the years! Both Sam Togwell, for a £20,000 fee and
Gavin Hoyte on a free transfer soon followed Allen to the South
Coast. Togwell made 99 appearances for the club and was also part of
that promotion winning side under Allen.
Development
Team coach Rossi Eames and Academy manager Henry Newman stepped up to
be the Interim Management partnership and their first game away to
Yeovil Town resulted in a 1-0 smash and grab win for the Bees –
Alex Nicholls with the strike. The following week the “local Derby”
against neighbours Stevenage didn't go as planned as “Borough”
came away 2-1 winners in front of 3,228. We geared up for the New
Years Eve clash with Luton Town with a thoroughly professional
performance at Cheltenham on Boxing Day. Weston and Akinde scoring in
a 2-1 win. We approached the New Year 9th in the table.
In
other news 17 year old Joe Payne signed professional forms but it was
reported that Ben Tomlinson out for the remainder of the season.
Happy
New Year everybody – my wish for 2017? To see Barnet at Wembley in
the Play Offs. Not been there since 1972, a lifetime ago, so watch
this space.
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| The 1972 Squad - 8p to anybody who can name them all? |
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