Barnet FC
The Hive
Edgware
Greater London
HA8 6AG
Ground: 69
Date: Monday 28th January 2019
Barnet 3-3 Brentford
FA Cup 4th Round
Attendance: 6,215 (official)
Barnet FC - 10 Facts
1) Barnet were first founded in 1888 and became inaugural members of the North London League in 1892. However, the club ceased to exist at the end of the 1901/02 season and were eventually replaced by a team called Alston Works, who were formed in 1901 and moved into Underhill (Barnet's previous ground) in 1907, before merging with Barnet Avenue in 1912 to become Barnet & Alston. After World War 1, this team became the current Barnet.
2) The club remained in the Athenian League from 1912 to 1965, winning the league seven times in this period. After World War 2, the club won the FA Amateur Cup by beating Bishop Auckland 3-2 in the 1946 final. The club reached the final again in 1948 and 1959, but were beaten 1-0 by Leytonstone and 3-2 by Crook Town. In 1965, the club turned semi-professional and left the Athenian League to join the Southern League.
3) The club spent much of the next decade yo-yoing between Division 1 and the Premier Division of the Southern League. During this time, the club reached the 3rd Round of the FA Cup for the first time in 1965, as well as reaching the semi-finals of the FA Trophy in its first season in 1969/70 (the club lost 1-0 to Macclesfield Town).
4) In the 1971/72 season, the club reached the FA Trophy final, losing 3-0 to Stafford Rangers at the old Wembley. However, that season saw the club win the Southern League Cup, eventually beating Hereford United in the final.
5) Due to high finishes in the Southern League Premier Division near the end of the 1970s, the club were given a position in the newly-formed Alliance Premier League. Initially, the club struggled but by the end of the 1984/85 season the club had stabilised.
6) In the 1986/87 season, the renamed Conference now had automatic promotion to the Football League, and at this point the club started competing at the top of the league. On several occasions, the club finished as runners-up to miss out on promotion, finishing between the likes of Lincoln City and Darlington. Eventually though, the club earned promotion to the Football League for the first time at the end of the 1990/91 season.
7) Initially, the club spent a decade in the Football League, reaching the 4th Division play-offs at the end of their first season in the League (but losing to Blackpool in the semi-finals). The following season, despite controversy off-the-field the club finished 3rd to earn promotion to the renamed Division 2. During that summer, the club survived a vote of expulsion at an EGM, but were relegated to Division 3 the following season after losing much of the squad. The club remained in Division 3 until 2001, when they finished bottom to return to the Conference.
8) This time, the club remained in non-league for just four seasons, finishing as runners-up in the Conference in 2004 before winning the league in 2005 to return to League 2. Upon their return, the club drew a lucrative away tie against Manchester United in the League Cup, losing 4-1.
9) In this spell in the Football League, the club generally struggled, not securing survival until the last day in three consecutive season (2009/10, 2010/11 and 2011/12) before being relegated at the end of the 2012/13 season on 51 points (the highest points tally a team has ever been relegated from League 2 with). However, the club made a swift return to the Football League, winning the Conference in the 2014/15 season to once again return to League 2. However, three seasons later the club were relegated again, this time on goal difference.
10) In 2013, the club moved out of their Underhill ground and into the current ground. Initially, this was only going to be temporary, with plans on the table to build a 10,000 capacity ground in the Borough of Barnet, but in 2015 it was announced that those plans had been scrapped and that the club would remain at The Hive for the long-term.
My Visit
After missing out on a groundhopping opportunity on the 12th of January, I had a look at the games on over FA Cup weekend to see if any would be viable. Chelsea was briefly considered, but quickly ruled out once it was announced as a 6pm kick-off on a Sunday. After that, it was between AFC Wimbledon (Saturday evening) and this game. Due to my desire to start making some progress on the 92, AFC Wimbledon was tempting but it seemed like a logistical nightmare to go straight into that after Yaxley's game in the afternoon (not least because tickets sounded like they would be scarce).
So, with all that taken into account, this seemed likely to be my destination, especially when the very reasonable ticket prices were announced. I was initially going to wait a few days before buying my ticket, but I was worried they'd sell about so ended up buying mine on the 11th. I had text Matt just before this to see if he was available on that weekend, but I didn't want to wait however long for him to respond so just went for it (fortunately, when he did respond and confirmed he was available, the seat next to me was still available for him to book).
By the time I returned to my house in Guildford for University, my ticket had already arrived, so I kept it on my desk so I wouldn't lose it before the game. By this point, I had also ordered my train tickets already, so there wasn't much to think about until after Saturday (Saturday did at least save me the effort of looking up a route to take).
When yesterday did come about, I realised a slight problem, namely that I would be leaving the house at around 4:40pm to head to the train station, so I didn't really have time for a proper dinner beforehand. Also, I was trying to be a bit more careful with money (ahead of Yaxley's away game at Didcot Town on the 9th of February), so I didn't want to be eating out if possible.
To alleviate this, I had a cooked lunch and then made myself a sandwich for the train, as well as taking some crisps and sweets for me. Also, with the announcement in the morning that a programme would be available, I got some cash out of my secondary account for that (as it was £5 for a bumper 92-page issue) and decided I'd use the rest to get some food at the ground.
Before I left, I discussed with Matt our plans to meet up, and we decided that he would wait for my arrival at Waterloo, and then we would head on the Tube to Canons Park from there. I got into Waterloo at around 10 past 6 and, after a brief trip to the toilets, we headed to the Tube (which was extremely crowded due to it being rush hour) and found somewhere to stand for the direct journey, talking about various things along the way while I also ate my sweets.
Once we got off the Tube, we simply followed some other fans to the ground, before then spending a few minutes trying to figure out where the turnstiles we were supposed to go through were, as well as trying to figure out where I could buy a programme. As we figured this out, I took a couple of photos on my phone of the outside of the ground. Eventually, we found the correct turnstiles and headed into the ground, quickly finding our seats and sitting down. I then took a few photos of the ground while we waited for kick-off, also flicking through the programme and checking on the 5th Round draw while we waited.
On paper, there was only one way this game was likely to go, but with the FA Cup you truly never know what is going to happen or which way it's going to go. Even with Brentford seemingly putting out a strong 11 (I don't know enough about them to say if it was a full-strength 11, but with the likes of Maupay and Canos it certainly seemed like it), it wasn't easy to actually predict this game at all.
Ordinarily, I write my own match reports, but for this match I just wanted to relax and enjoy it so didn't end up doing anything of the sort. Instead, here's one taken from the Barnet website:
Brentford took the one-goal advantage into half-time but Barnet hit back in the early stages of the second period.
Two goals in three minutes from third round hero Shaq Coulthirst turned the game on it’s head and the Bees looked to be claiming another scalp.
However, after David Tutonda was adjudged to have brought down Watkins just shy of the hour mark, Neal Maupay stepped up to draw the game level again.
12 minutes later and the Championship side took the lead again, this time through Sergi Canos, who fired the ball home from close range.
There was another twist in the tale though as Dan Sparkes came off the bench and bent in a delightful free-kick from just outside the box to force a replay.
So, on the whole, going to this match was a great decision, as it was easily one of the most entertaining I've seen all season. Add to that the crazy atmosphere, and this was truly a magical cup tie. Though I am a neutral, I will readily admit that I was hoping for a Barnet win late on, as I do feel that the replay will be one step too far for them. Speaking of the replay, I wish I could go but simply can't afford it at the moment, which is a shame.
Once we got out of the ground, the journey back into Waterloo was fairly easy (much less crowded than the way there, even with all the football fans), and I was able to get the 10:45pm train back to Guildford, getting into Guildford 40 minutes later and into the house just after 11:30pm.
Up next will be something much more local this Saturday, and I have a few options in mind. There's the possibility of Matt being able to join me for each of the next three weekends, so that will be good if he proves to be the case. In any event, it will be Didcot on the 9th of February if possible, and then the following weekend might be something in the FA Cup if it works out, but other than that it's too soon to say.
The Ground
The Hive is a fairly new venue - having opened in 2013 - but is certainly an impressive one that feels appropriate for a club that yo-yoes between League 2 and the National League. Obviously, there's cover on all four sides, with three of the stands providing seating and the other serving as covered terracing behind one of the goals.
Of these three stands, one has only a few rows of seats with the roof way above, while the other two stands are conventional Football League stands: large with lots of seats going all the way up. Overall, the ground has a capacity of 6,500, of which 5,419 is seated. The ground's record attendance was set at this match last night, with an impressive 6,215 people in attendance.
Photos
No comments:
Post a Comment