Following the last day great escape at the 2010/11, the Bees were anxious to avoid getting involved again in a relegation struggle, bearing in mind that the club had been involved in relegation issues at the end of 2009/10 as well. To this end the club had appointed former Fulham, Wycombe andNorthern Ireland boss, Lawrie Sanchez as manager following his role in helping Giuliano Grazioli steer the Bees through to safety in the last five matches of the last season.
The major departure from the Bees in the close season was defender, Joe Devera who had been voted the supporters’ player of the year for 2010/11; the second time that the former PROTEC player had won the award. Devera had opted for a move to Swindon Town, one of the league Two promotion favourites.
Sanchez managed to secure the signatures of two of the key loanees from the side that had escaped the drop; midfielders, Mark Byrne from Nottingham Forest and Sam Deering from Oxford United and the club had hung on to leading scorer, Izale McLeod. New arrivals included experienced keeper, Dean Brill from Oldham to replace fans’ favourite, Jake Cole who had moved toPlymouthand former Wycombe full back, Danny Senda signed from Bristol Rovers. Former Welsh international striker, Jason Price arrived on a short term contract.
However, most of the squad players remained from the end of the previous season, though Sanchez had to deal with injury concerns over central defender, Darren Dennehy and striker, Steve Kabba. Surprisingly, there was no real replacement brought in for Devera.
The Bees opened up the new league season with a trip to Morecambe with the line up as follows; Brill; Senda, Uddin, Kamdjo, Parkes; Hughes, Byrne, Deering, Holmes; Price, McLeod.
For the first time since the club were promoted back to the league in 2005, the Bees won their opening day fixture; a stunning long range strike from Mark Byrne claiming the three points. And things got even better the following Tuesday when the Bees claimed one of the shock results of the opening round of the Carling Cup, deservedly winning 1-0 away at Championship club, Portsmouth; skipper, Mark Hughes scoring the vital goal which earned the Bees a 2nd round away trip at another Championship club, this time, Burnley.
These results raised expectations for the season, but fans were brought back down to earth on the Saturday when Port Vale, who had been the visitors in the last game of 2010/11, came to Underhill and comfortably left with the three points; winning 3-1, Jason Price scoring a consolation goal for the Bees in a game that the midland club dominated.
The following week, the Bees twice came back from a goal down to earn a 2-2 draw at home to Gillingham; Izale McLeod scoring both goals in a match that the Bees maybe should have won but which, in the end, they were grateful for a share of the points with a late, late equaliser.
Central defender, Exodus Geohaghon arrived fromKetteringTownand came on as a substitute in the away match at promotion favourites,Rotherhamwhich again ended in a 2-2. This time it was the Bees that let the lead slip; Clovis Kamdjo and McLeod getting the goals. Still, 5 points from the opening 4 games wasn’t too bad a start.
Next up was a difficult trip to Burnley in the 2nd round of the Carling Cup and the Bees looked to be going out quite easily when they fell 2-0 down in the second half, but goals from Ricky Holmes and substitute, Steve Kabba, in his first appearance of the season, took the game into extra time, where Barnet were unlucky to lose 3-2.
Despite being out of the Carling Cup, the club could be confident that a repeat of the last two seasons was very unlikely. On the Saturday, Izale McLeod put the Bees ahead away at Bradford City early on but that was as good as it got as Barnet slumped to a disappointing 4-2 defeat: McLeod scoring the second to take his tally to 5 in 7 matches. Jason Price’s contract was not extended and he left the club to join Morecambe. The defeat left Barnet in 17th place.
On the Tuesday, the Bees travelled to League One, Colchester in the 1st round of the Johnstones’ Paint Trophy and came back with another cup scalp, winning 3-1 with goals from Holmes, Kabba and McLeod. Geohaghon made his first, and only, start in this game, his contract not extended by Sanchez.The Bees seemed to like cup games at this point, but needed to transfer this form to league matches too. However, the first game in September saw the Bees disappointingly play a goalless draw with Accrington, despite the away side finishing with just 9 players. One positive was Darren Dennehy and Steve Kabba playing their first full games of the season.
Another league defeat followed a week later, this time at the hands of Crewewho won 3-1, McLeod scoring his 7th goal of the season as Barnet slumped to 22nd place, just a point above the drop zone. It is interesting no note that all the bottom 6 clubs at this stage were to remain in relegation trouble for the majority of the season and that Barnet & Hereford were both in the bottom three.
Barnet had failed to win since the opening day and gained just 3 points from 6 games, but a 2-0 win at home to bottom club, Plymouth Argyle took the Bees up 3 places to 19th, the goals coming from Daniel Leach and Izale McLeod, the Bees’ striker’s 8th of the season in an unconvincing performance which saw the first appearance of former Brentford striker, Lloyd Owusu.
However, the Bees finished the month off with two poor defeats; 2-0 at home to Oxford United and then a shoddy performance in a 4-0 drubbing at Swindon Town leaving the club 21st and thankful of the poor form of the clubs around them. Soon after, former Port Vale midfield player, Tommy Fraser left the club.
