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WASH OUT
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The curse of the September midweek home fixture strikes again.
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By:
Max Bygraves
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15/09/2022
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This article has been viewed 1246 times.
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In the car en route to the game on Tuesday night, I said that I thought it could be a match that might set the tone of things to come. A win would re-install confidence, but “I can see it being a horrible 0-1 in the rain.” How unfortunately prophetic.
There’s no dressing up that a 0-1 defeat at home to newly-promoted Dorking Wanderers is a disappointment. I don’t mean any disrespect to the opposition, but on paper, it’s not pretty.
Dorking’s story is really impressive. Of course, they haven’t climbed the leagues without financial backing, but it hasn’t been done on a ludicrous scale. It’s a much more innocent tale than a number of other non-league clubs bought and bankrolled up the leagues. The fact that they began as a group of mates (the chairman/manager included) paying a fiver to play in a park as recently as 1999 is incredible. Good luck to them.
Barnet started the game brightly and on another day could have scored more than once in a lively opening ten minutes. The tempo was good, we looked like making things happen and it felt like more of what’s been on show lately. However, after chances went begging, the pace dropped completely and a flatness descended across the pitch and stands.
It felt like a bit of a step back in terms of the atmosphere and feeling around the ground. Quickly, it was very quiet and there was a bit of an air of ‘this isn’t going to go well.’ Don’t get me wrong, the conditions didn’t add much inspiration, but it was a far cry from the buzz at the Eastleigh game.
On another day, that Dorking cross doesn’t go all the way through and bounce into the net, but those goals happen at every level. It would be harsh to point fingers for that one.
There were glimmers of hope in the second half, but equally, there were a number of moments where it looked like the lead would be doubled for the visitors. A close offside call late on only denying that.
Stoppage time brought a few talking points and moments of frustration. Should Diarra’s goal have stood? In the footage on Twitter, it doesn’t look like he did much – but if you put your hands on someone, you’re taking a big gamble. There was clearly no doubt in the referee’s mind as the whistle was instant.
Right at the death, there isn’t much debate that it was a mistake not to give Barnet a penalty for a blatant handball. You could hear the thwack on the arm. What followed is one of the few times The Hive has probably ever felt like an intimidating place for any individual; the linesman getting both barrels from an angry mob at the front of the stand. He made a pretty hasty get away when the whistle blew shortly after.
The officiating was poor throughout and at least one of those decisions was very unlucky, but the performance over the 90 minutes didn’t merit much more.
It was frustrating, but arguably the reaction of some both during and after was a little extreme. Barnet sit 9th in the table, a point outside the play-offs. If that’s how things end in April, would many really be disappointed?
I can appreciate as someone who until recently has predominantly watched results from afar, I haven’t had to endure the pain of being so awful for two seasons like others, but it does feel some perhaps need a touch of perspective given the bigger picture so far.
One chap sat near me was so upset he stated that Barnet were, “going to give me a brain aneurism.” Some comment. A new one to me.
Players who fifteen days ago were being hailed as great arrivals or the best in their position for however long haven’t suddenly become awful. At this level, the reason most of them are here is that performances fluctuate. It’s not a nice feeling losing back to back, but it’s very early days and patience is needed. The good start was perhaps counter-productive to this.
Anyway, thinking about it today, we often have a poor home result in this September midweek fixture on the Conference calendar.
Farnborough Town’s 1-2 Underhill victory in 2002 saw an even more ghastly officiating performance all round (and a vicious response from some motley young whippersnappers on the East Terrace) along with a similarly disappointing defeat to part-timers.
Even in the fabled 2004/05 season, our first loss came in the September midweek against Burton Albion, player-manager Nigel Clough getting the biggest cheer of the night after bringing himself on as a sub the day after the passing of his father, the great Brian Clough.
Not to only look too far back, also in the 2014/15 title winning season at The Hive, we lost this equivalent midweek fixture in a very similar game, 0-1 against Pre-Hollywood Wrexham.
To finish on a wholesome, positive note, I want to highlight a really impressive act from Sean Shields that some may not have seen. He was subbed off not long after a frustrating sequence where he had forced a good save from the goalkeeper and then been booked for dissent.
He was clearly massively frustrated as he began the miserable trudge around the pitch having come off on the side of the main stand. A young kid ran forward from his seat and stuck a hand over the barrier and tried to get his attention. You could see all he wanted to do was to get off, but, taking a split second’s thought, he made the minimal effort to take a couple of steps back and shake the kid’s hand.
Such a small, simple act but he probably made that boy’s evening despite the result. I can think of many who have represented Barnet before now who would have ignored that.
Proper behaviour. A lot of time for that.
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