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A LOOK BACK - 2003-2004 - Part 3 - October & November
Despite the odd slip, form remains strong plus a little FA Cup run builds up. By: Max Bygraves 29/06/2022




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October

On The Weavers jukebox this month...

Kevin Lyttle - Turn Me On



IN: Shane Gore, Brett Freeman
OUT: David Forde, Norman Sylla

We began October in 3rd place, looking to make it 5 in a row against Morecambe at Underhill. The Shrimps were also in good form, sitting 5th and with Grazioli absent due to flu (we were proudly pointing out at this point that he was in the top scorer in Britain, don’t you know), it was no gimme.

Lightning very much struck twice in the early stages. Just as two weeks ago, Ben Strevens had Barnet ahead in the first two minutes. Things got even better midway through the first half when Ian Hendon volleyed home following a lovely move from a corner. Training ground and all that.

An early second half red for Morecambe seemed to make the points safe but they struck back with a goal shortly afterwards and it was a less than comfortable final half hour. Allen was afterwards quite blunt about what he thought of the quality of performance but did reel off the standard comment about a good team playing poorly and winning. Other results meant we stayed 3rd but there was a chance to go top on Tuesday, if other results helped us along, too.

Exeter City, the other side who had come down with Shrewsbury (2002/03 being the first season where two sides got relegated from the league) were the visitors at Underhill next. Sean Devine made his long awaited Underhill return up front for the Devon side, although would depart on 79 minutes for a second bookable offence.

It proved to be a night to forget for Barnet. Exeter went 0-1 up just before the break in a tightly contested affair. Lewis Hogg then saw red for a horrific challenge midway through the second half, with Exeter soon doubling their lead. The Grecians made it 0-3 in the closing stages. Stoppage time goals from Plummer and the returning Grazioli gave hope of an unlikely comeback, but it wasn’t to be. The run was over and no place at the summit for now.

The more cynical Barnet fan may have been concerned by 5pm the following weekend. A very poor display (although an early offside goal against Graz may have changed the course of things) at Dr Martens League holders, Tamworth led to a 2-0 defeat. One to quickly forget. This was the same day as the Turkey v England Euro 2004 qualifier where Beckham slipped and missed a penalty but the 0-0 draw was enough to see England to Portugal. The BFCSA coach stopped off on the way home at Rugby United FC for the 5:30pm kick off. We were treated like royalty by our hosts and several Barnet fans enjoyed a half time kick around on the Rugby pitch, minus an actual football. Good knee slides to the imagined away end, though.

A respite from a league wobble came in the form of the LDV Vans 1st Round the following Tuesday. Division 2 Brentford were the visitors as Allen rang the changes, given a number of untried players a chance. I still can’t believe Soloman Henry never did anything at at least Conference level judging by his performance that night.

It turned out to be an incredible game of football. Played at a frantic pace, Guy Lopez opened the scoring on 6 minutes with what can only be described as a complete thunderbastard from outside the box and my man Henry converted a penalty later in the first half to give Barnet a surprise 2-0 lead.

Brentford came back stronger after half time. Jay Tabb got one back and then with five minutes left, Marc Cumberbatch (one of the protec kids) was sent off for a last man foul and Stephen Hunt equalised from the spot. A decent Brentford eleven, by the way.

Extra time. Introducing Liam Hatch. The striker had been signed for a whopping £23,500 from Gravesend & Northfleet the previous summer but suffered a nasty injury in pre season. This was his comeback and he made his presence felt when he fired in an equaliser in the 104th minute. This was in the silver goal era, meaning Brentford’s 98th minute would have been a winner at the mid point of extra time. The celebrations for Hatch’s equaliser by the relatively sparsely populated East Terrace were great. Very vivid memories of running down the front of the stand to celebrate in front of the away end after some friendly Bee related banter had taken place through the evening.

Brentford would go on to win 3-1 on penalties after a very poor shoot out from the black and amber Bees. But what a great evening’s entertainment.

The excitement of Tuesday night seemed to inspire us into the following Saturday. A resounding 4-1 win at perennial strugglers Leigh RMI with a second hat trick of the season for Graz and Lewis Hogg’s only Barnet goal got the league form back on track. This game was scene of a particularly beautiful photo depicting the issues an unsegregated stand can cause. See if you can spot it…


October finished with a fun FA Cup trip to Bracknell Town in the 4th Qualifying Round. A comfortable 3-0 win ensued. The pre match prep had involved a training session on the Marble Arch before beers in town for the team. This was to be the start of the FA Cup publicity stunts from the manager. And we lapped it up. Despite the mini wobble, things were looking pretty rosy as the clocks went back…

November

On The Weavers jukebox this month...

Fatman Scoop - Be Faithful



The new month began with a home game against Northwich Victoria. The Vics a real steadfast of non-league’s top tier for many years until their unfortunate demise just a few years later. An early goal from Grazioli was enough to squeeze past the Cheshire strugglers and keep Barnet amongst the pace-setters with a 1-0 win.

The following week, Martin Allen was doing his very best to ensure that FA Cup fever gripped Underhill. He had his work cut out, given the visitors were Stalybridge Celtic from the Unibond Premier League, who had been a Conference opponent just two seasons prior and had in fact, recorded an unlikely victory at Underhill during the last knockings of the John Still era. Not quite the romantic cup tie to capture the imagination that one might have hoped for; but nevertheless, it looked like a fairly comfortable route into the 2nd Round.

The build up to the game saw Mad Dog take the team for a bonding night out to the Odeon in Leicester Square to watch The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The manager reliably informing us in his programme notes that he used the film to get some kip whilst players threw popcorn at him. What cards. Pre-match, we were treated to the classical sounds of the composer Vangelis and his number ’conquest to paradise.’ What do you mean ’why?’ Obviously because the title was about our aim of reaching Round 3 and meeting one of the big boys. Welcome to the mind of Mr Martin Allen. I still like that piece of music today and have managed to shoe horn it into certain contexts of my day job over the years, which has made me look cultured. Cheers, Mart.

The game itself was a stereotypical blood and thunder cup tie. The Bees had raced into a 2-0 lead and looked to be cruising to Round 2 only for the Tamesiders to mount a spirited fightback and force a replay after a 2-2 draw. A sour point of the day was a very unpleasant element of supposed Man City fans who had jumped on the Celtic bandwagon for their big cup day in the capital. Lots of aggression and some abhorrent racist chanting soured things as Barnet had to plan for a trip to Bower Fold ten days later.

A full fixture list this month meant just three days later we were back at Underhill for a return to Conference action. Gravesend & Northfleet (now Ebbsfleet), were the visitors on a bitterly cold mid-November’s evening. The game was awful. Slow paced, lacking in action and looked to be petering out into a disappointing draw.

With five minutes left on the clock, ’Fleet got a chance on the break and forward Ben Abbey (who had featured on trial with us in pre-season) was put clear in the Barnet half. Veteran defender Danny Maddix chased back and despite his advancing years, appeared to make a good challenge, if a risky one. To the dismay of the home support, the referee produced a straight red for a professional foul and the end of the game would be played with ten men. Gravesend had probably edged the poor contest and seemed the more likely winner, if a stalemate were to be avoided.

What happened next is burned into my memory and will forever be one of my favourite moments of my youth standing on the East Terrace at Underhill. A hopeful punt forward from Ian Hendon found Ben Strevens on the North West Terrace side of the penalty area at that end of the ground. At a tight angle to shoot but with space, he looked up and squared it to the penalty spot. To this day, I have no idea how he got there or why he was in that part of the pitch with ten men but remaining centre half Chris Plummer steamed into the box and side-footed home from 10 yards.

I had to stop for a moment after writing that last sentence from a little adrenaline hit at the memory of that. There were only about 1300 home fans that night and the East Terrace was hardly packed but the ensuing mayhem following that winner was off the chart. Bodies everywhere. Carnage of the best kind. The whistle blew not long after and Barnet had snatched a massive three points. Only goal difference kept us off the top of the league now and our next game would see us visit the current leaders, Chester City.

258 Barnet fans made the long trip north for the Conference ’match of the day’ against Mark Wright’s (not that one, kids) title favourites. A storm of balloons and confetti greeted the players at they entered the exceptionally underwhelming Deva Stadium. I don’t regret much about my wasted youth following a non-league side around the country but sitting on a coach tearing up Yellow Pages for far too long and putting it into Tesco bags for 5 seconds of I’m not sure what when the teams came out is definitely something I question now.


A stunning strike from Alex Smith just before half-time gave Chester a narrow 1-0 victory. It was a game of few chances and we never really looked like getting much. Even so, to be this competitive at the right end this far in was positive. The focus reverted back to the conquest to paradise the following Tuesday.

I didn’t go to Bower Fold, Stalybridge for the replay but remember the massive excitement of the game being covered by BBC Radio London. My friends and I sending several texts in during the show which were even more excitedly read out. Around 100 hardy souls did make that ridiculous journey midweek (given what was still to come in November, this really was dedication) and were rewarded with a comfortable 2-0 away win, thanks to a Grazioli double. We already knew by now that last season’s Conference champions and current Division 3 high flyers Yeovil Town lay in wait at Huish Park in two weeks’ time.

Saturday 22nd November 2003 is understandably remembered by much of the country for England winning the Rugby World Cup early that morning against Australia. Those who know their stuff however, are aware that this was very much Peter Beadle’s day.

Forest Green Rovers (very much a different animal to the soon to be League 1 club they are now) were in town. Beforehand, their friendly supporters were extremely generous on the football pitch as an early incarnation of the supporters’ team which ran for much of the 2000s ran out 17-1 winners against the chaps from Gloucestershire.

Although not quite to the same extent, it wasn’t a hugely different story in the main game of the day. Most victories to this point had been by the odd goal but this was a very different story. By 4:45pm, any renditions of ’swing low’ had been replaced by Westy doing ’Hawaii-5-0’ as Barnet romped to a 5-0 home win. Peter Beadle bagged the second and third goal and most memorably of all, when being serenaded with his brilliant chant that those of a certain vintage should appreciate*, he took the time to stop during the game and very visibly explain to the opponent marking him that the lovely people on the East Terrace were singing about him. I’ll say it again, forget Beadle the manager. Absolute cult hero.

*’There’s only one, Peter Beadle! One, Peter Beadle! You better watch out, cos Beadle’s about! Walking in a Beadle wonderland...’

Following the resounding response to the disappointment at Chester, optimism was high as Barnet set out for a simply bonkers ask of the Conference fixture computer. Scarborough away on the last Tuesday of November. Absurd.

Having gone behind to a Matt Redmile opener (more on him later and aren’t we glad there is), Yakubu and Hendon had turned things around, only for an equaliser five minutes from time to deny those who had made the most committed of midweek journeys the reward of three points.

November finished with another sadistic trip, whatever the time of year. Accrington Stanley away. This was actually Barnet’s first visit to the Crown Ground and I distinctly remember my heartache when having discovered just a few days before the game that I could in fact attend, I rang up the BFCSA Coach voicemail to hear the bone-chilling words: "The coach to Accrington is now full..."

Oh, Ann (Percy). The pain. The horror. The outright desperation. I did indeed follow her instructions and leave my name and number as a reserve or in the event that 50 others had also been as disorganised as myself and that we would need a second coach at short notice. Neither happened. A Saturday morning of sheer woe picturing my chums on the coach making custom ring tones on someone’s Sony Ericsson phone and reading the Daily Sport aloud.

The missing out pain eased a little after an underwhelming 2-0 defeat to John Coleman’s side. A disappointing end to an action-packed month. A two week break from Conference football would ensue into December as it became all about the cups...




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