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Echoes
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Bees prevail at a sparse Hive.
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By:
Max Bygraves
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08/12/2024
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This article has been viewed 476 times.
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The FA Trophy. Almost a sensitive and contentious thing to mention in our quarters these days. A route to Wembley we have followed to the very near and certainly a bitter end in recent times. Aveley at home didn’t hugely inspire, but for one reason or another, I found myself battling the elements to make it to The Hive for this one.
When the draw was made, I thought I’d likely give this a miss. Save a Saturday afternoon out for another time. Yet when the day came, my wife informed me in the morning her and the kids were off to meet up with her sisters and I found myself with a free afternoon. I’d love to have more exciting options on the table (aside from the sensible, obvious choice of Christmas shopping), but this felt the natural way to use this window of time. I do have to remind myself sometimes how out of love I was with Barnet FC not so long ago.
I must confess, however, it was a very late call. I’d gone to buy the family Christmas tree around 2pm and then spent the next few minutes refreshing Twitter in the car park waiting for team news. A complete youth and unknown side would have likely meant heading home for more cleaning and decoration sorting. However, a solid enough recognisable eleven saw me heading right out of the car park towards Harrow, Christmas tree in tow.
The roads were suitably quiet on the trek across meaning despite a later than normal departure, I found myself with time to spare. Not wishing to fork out for the club car park but wary of the absolutely pissing rain at this point, I decided to see how close I could get. The parking spot next to the end of the yellow lines coming out of The Hive complex felt like a small win on the kind of day where positive reasons for making the effort felt needed.
This was my first experience of a ‘no one is bothering’ Hive game. Sure, there are some very obvious jokes to be made here about this often being the case, but an FA Trophy 3rd Round game in December against lower opposition is peak empty stadium territory. As already alluded to, I’ve not done many cup games over the past few seasons due to other commitments. Part of the problem arguably. I was a little intrigued to see just how low a three figure number it would be.
A perk was the opportunity to sample the new catering without a queue. Purchased just minutes before kick off without any queue at all, I have to commend the new pie and mash offering. Not cheap and a dash more gravy would have been my only constructive feedback. Very, very reasonable all the same. Someone stick it on Footy Scran. Time to try and claw the reputation back...
It would be fair to say one could spread out a little for this. I moved into Block D to sit with those who’d also bothered for this one. A good view and plenty of seating choice available. What I had underestimated was just how cold it was. A bone-chiller from start to finish.
I had hoped it would be the kind of afternoon where we’d be regularly up and down celebrating a glut of goals. A bright start and Aveley barely touching the ball made this seem a possibility, but it wasn’t to be. Credit to the minimal Amber Battalion in attendance who made a go at creating a sort of atmosphere. “Small town in Essex,” being directed at the 71 away fans was an interesting one. Any other facts to sing at them? Marks for effort, all the same.
On 32 minutes, Kabamba flicked the ball over the keeper at the back stick to give Barnet the lead. It was a slightly delayed reaction whilst we all worked out if it had gone in or hit the exterior of the net behind . A cool finish and no less than we deserved.
The rest of the first half was controlled. Debutant goalkeeper Bellagambi appeared desperate to touch the ball as much as he could, rushing out a good thirty yards to claim a ball before the striker at one stage. He was rarely tested, but looked comfortable throughout.
It was a short bar queue at half time. In fact, there wasn’t a queue. Never a pint here at so much leisure. Despite the fifteen minutes inside, it did little to thaw out that whipping wind.
It was a drab second half. I’d like to elaborate in more depth here, but sometimes less is more. Very little happened. The wind held the ball up in the air a few times. We still largely controlled the game. They had a moment where they could have gone through at 1-0 but their player took one of the worst touches I’ve ever seen. That was about as good as it got for them. The striker pounding the turf before being dragged off a few minutes later summed it up for their threat.
On another day, Kabamba could have bagged a hat trick. Either side of two not brilliant finishes that were saved low by the keeper (who had a decent game), Zak Brunt added a second in the final ten. It was a cool, composed finish inside the box. Job done.
The latter stages saw two youth lads introduced from the bench - Siaw and Buburzan. Neither had much time to make an impact, but positive to see home grown players featuring.
Just prior to the opening bars of Just Can’t Get Enough, the attendance was announced over the tannoy.
588 - 71 away fans - 517 home fans. 517 Barnet fans for a home game on a Saturday when we’ve won every home match bar one (a 0-0 draw) this season.
We’ve become desensitised to this because it’s not a new thing at The Hive but this is seriously woeful. I can’t think of any other club in our context of performing over the past few years as we have who would suffer like this attendance-wise when it’s a non-season ticket game (things like boycotting the National League Cup aside).
In the FA Trophy 3rd Round in 2004/05 (when top of this league, playing in Barnet), we played Farnborough at Underhill. They brought 99 away fans. There were still 1235 Barnet in attendance. That was a small crowd, but more than double the home attendance for this one. We had a couple of 7-800 midweek games when we were crap in the early 2000s, but never on a Saturday. Never when doing alright.
If you ever wanted a timely reminder why it so important that we Bring Barnet Back, this is it. Our club is not sustainable in exile. Or certainly not at the level we aspire to be at.
Thankfully, there have been some positive steps in the past few weeks on this front in the Bring Barnet Back campaign. The Barnet Christmas Fayre last Sunday was an excellent community event that saw so much positive engagement from Underhill locals. It’s left me feeling excited and upbeat as to where we go from here. We still need all the support and noise we can collectively make.
Whilst that’s more important than any win on the pitch, victory in this game takes us into Round 4. Four wins from Wembley. We’ve been a lot closer and fallen recently, but when you put it that way, it does allow the mind to wander. Will it be 53 years when we finally re-visit the national stadium?
Onto Ebbsfleet next week and a triple run of home games. Let’s hope it is the season to be jolly.
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