|
Another Week In Barnet
|
|
Got your ticket?
|
By:
Eric Hitchmo
|
23/11/2011
|
|
|
More On Macclesfield Town
|
"And so here comes the Friday Night Floodlit Bonanza of Football or whatever the club are calling it. For a club that has been much maligned for its marketing over the years, it's good to see that they're giving it a go here. It's something different, at least. Whether it will work or not remains to be seen, I'm not convinced, though I would quite happily be proven wrong.
For a start, it's a Friday. People do have better things to do on Fridays. Plus, it is November and it's night time, it's cold. Locals could be forgiven for preferring the warm surroundings of their own home rather than venturing out for a fixture that just smacks of lower league. On the other hand, slashing the ticket prices to a simple tenner, or a fiver is a good offer. It keeps things simple for potential new supporters who have often been baffled by a current ticketing policy which can simply be described as unnecessary. The kid for a quid offer for the Accrington game put several hundred on the gate, brilliant, the only problem was that the queues outside the ground were very long and I can't imagine this was helped by the confusing system that we operate. Oh, and the game was terrible, can't see the kids rushing back after that one.
Another thing that remains to be seen is the apparent increase in atmosphere that an evening kick off may bring. Lawrie Sanchez seems convinced that this will work. I offer the Southend game as evidence to the contrary. However, the recent upturn in fortunes on the field may have a knock-on effect and encourage a few people to have a sing song. Aside from the six week buzz of staying up last season, I struggle to recall the last time Underhill truly bounced with noise. The regulars have gone, apathy has set in, etc, all lines I have spouted in recent weeks and months, but now is not the time nor the place. We're being positive, remember?
Well why shouldn't we be? It's been six years since we won three away games in a row. Macclesfield at home is usually a game that you would target three points in however well they're doing, with all due respect. However, we have only beaten them once in our last eight attempts, home and away. You do feel though that if we don't win this one then we'd be unravelling our good work slightly. We defended very well at Bristol Rovers and we've only let in two goals since the farce that was Burton at home. Going forward, Izale McLeod is back on the trail having scored in his last three league games. However, I am a Barnet fan, therefore I am well aware that these things are never as simple as they seem. That said, the incentive of pulling ourselves six points clear of free-falling Dagenham is clear for all to see. It's time to start focussing on the heady climes of mid-table, mingling with the Macclesfield's and the Crewe's of this world rather than continually peering over our shoulders like the perennial strugglers we have been made out to be.
As I have said, I hope this experiment works. It's one of several games, home and away, that have been moved to Friday nights, though I've already vented my spleen on the Torquay shambles. It was good to see the club offer free travel to those affected, though it's not something I'll be taking up as the nightmare in Burnley still sticks in the forefront of my mind, for which we were offered £10 off our next travel, by the way. You would imagine that Macc's away support will be pretty minimal, so it's up to the local public to drag the crowd up to a decent level. On average, we have had just under 1700 home supporters per match this year, anything near that would be decent in my view, and with the prospect of a disco in the Pavilion after the match, you'd be pretty foolish not to attend wouldn't you?!? Come on now, I mustn't laugh, the club are trying and good luck to them!
Here begins a run of three home matches in a row as after Macclesfield, we host two League One clubs in the FA Cup and the semi-final of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. The FA Cup tie against Franchise is very tough, and we'll do well to get anything against them considering how decent they looked in the pre-season friendly. You would hope that should we get through, we get a bit more fortune with a money-spinner against one of the big boys. Knowing our luck, we'll draw Wigan away or something ridiculous like that. The following Tuesday will see our much more realistic path to Wembley tested against Brentford. Despite being a league above us, I've watched us be hammered by Southend and Swindon this season, so they are free to go at it in the other semi while we have our own little Battle of the Bees. Wembley is not far away, and if that can't get you a little bit excited, then what will? Remember the last time we played Brentford in this competition? A 3-3 After Extra Time thriller, which we eventually lost on penalties. Such a drama wouldn't go amiss again, though with a different outcome, obviously..
It's been a great month for us so far, so there are several reasons for us to be cheerful. Many will require more convincing, understandably, but it's nice to think that maybe things are looking up..."
|
|
|
All Articles By This Author:
Other Articles By Category
|