A look at season 1988/89
After going so close in the two previous seasons when the Bees finished runners up on each occasion, manager, Barry Fry decided to rebuild the squad. In the summer, midfield player, Noel Ashford had left for Maidstone, striker, Keith Alexander to Grimsby and reserve keeper, Darren Williams to Wealdstone.
Early in the season, Division 2 club (now the Championship), Brighton signed the Barnet pair of Nicky Bissett and Robert Codner for £115,000 apiece, a massive deal for the Bees who could hardly say no at that price. Influential centre half, Glyn Creaser was then sold to Wycombe, while young winger, Lee Payne, who had only made a handful of appearances for Barnet's first team was sold to Newcastle United for a staggering £125,000in September. Barnet's only signing had been the 28 year old striker, Frank Murphy from Kettering for £10,000.
The Bees got off to a fine start winning 3-2 away at Chorley, who were newly promoted from the Northern Premier League. Dave Samson, Gary Abbott and Steve Cox grabbed the goals for the Bees. However, the Bees only picked up three points from their next four matches with three draws and a 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Stafford Rangers.
Two away wins at Wycombe, 3-2 with a Gary Abbott hat trick and an astonishing, 7-1 at struggling Newport County, with another Abbott hat trick, lifted the team. Newport County were to resign from the league and their record expunged, losing Barnet six points.
The following week and the Bees hit seven again this time in the FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round at home to Epsom & Ewell from the Isthmian League Division Two South. Gary Abbott hit another hat trick and Nicky Evans scored twice. That gave Abbott ten goals already and it was only the middle of September.
However, Barnet's form was erratic and they lost their next three Conference matches at Kettering and at home to Macclesfield and Fisher. However, two cup wins put the Bees back on the winning trail again. Firstly, they beat Leatherhead from the Isthmian League, First Division 4-3 at Underhill with Dave Sansom scoring twice and another goal for Abbott and then they won 4-1 away at Winsor & Eton from the Isthmian League Premier in the 1st round of the Clubcall Cup, Sansom again scoring twice. However, in the next round of the FA Cup, the Bees went down, surprisingly, 1-0 at home to Grays Athletic from the Isthmian League. 9Runcorn and newly promoted, Aylesbury were both defeated at Underhill in the Conference. Barnet's inconsistency still showed though as they crashed 5-0 away at Boston United.
However, the Bees bounced back and enjoyed their best spell of the season in the league. Cheltenham and Fisher were both beaten away 2-1 and then beat Northwich Victoria 2-0 at home. Next up were Aylesbury United away and the Bees lead 1-0 but the game was abandoned. One sad factor was that the goal was scored by Chris Leadbitter, his only Barnet senior goal.
Two defenders were signed, Bill Roffey and Trevor Slack, but they both left after a handful of games. However, in the next few months there were some new arrivals at Underhill. Paul Shinners, a big striker, was signed from Orient, John Docker returned from Maidstone and Derek Payne, a tiny winger was signed from Hayes. Payne was to become an influential player at Underhill.
However, there were also more departures, old favourites, John Margerrison and Peter Brown were allowed to leave. Mark Lawrenson, the former Liverpool star defender, was signed amidst great publicity but lasted only two games.
Barnet progressed to the 3rd round of the Clubcall Cup with a 2-1 win at Bromsgrove Rovers. And the three out of the next five Conference matches were won before an unfortunate 4-0 defeat away at Enfield on Boxing day, but that was just a blip as Barnet's good form continued with a 4-1 win just before the new year at home to Weymouth, Nicky Evans scoring twice and a 2-1 win over Enfield in the return at Underhill in the first game of 1989. A draw away at Macclesfield Town was followed by home wins over Kettering and hapless, Newport County saw the Bees move up to 2nd in the league, only a point behind the leaders Kidderminster by the beginning of February. One disappointment was the first round exit from the FA trophy at the hands of Gravesend. However, the Bees progressed well in the Clubcall Cup beating Dover Athletic 5-1 at home in the 3rd round, with Nicky Evans scoring twice and 2-1 away at Maidstone in the 4th round.
Barnet had signed Liam Daish and Dion Dublin, later a star at Manchester United, on short loan spells from Cambridge United earlier in the season and they returned to snap up George Reilly for £10,000 to solve Barnet's problems in the middle of defence and then Gary Poole and Gary Bull moved from the Abbey Stadium to Underhill for just £5,000 for the two. It was to be one of the best pieces of business that Barry Fry was ever to be involved with. Both players were tremendously influential in the success that was to follow and Bull became the darling of the home fans.
Fry also continued his clearout with a number of players leaving including long serving players, Steve Cox and Dave Sansom, while Gary Abbott was sold to Enfield for £40,000. But the transfer that caused the most controversy was the sale of Nicky Evans to Wycombe for £32,000. Evans was the darling of Underhill, was worshipped and called 'God' and the Bees fans were upset by his departure.
The changes, not surprisingly, seemed to affect the club's performances. Barnet had won 11 games out of 15, just losing two in a run that stretched back to the beginning of November. However, that was to change, after losing at home to Telford, the first home defeat since September and then being held to a draw by Boston, the Bees lost 3 out of the next four matches, with only a 3-1 home win over Cheltenham to show for it as they slumped down the table with any hopes of being promoted fading fast.
A 3-0 home win over Altrincham on April Fools Day picked things up a bit but the rest of April saw just one win, 3-0 away at Telford and three defeats as promotion became a forgotten dream. After a 2-1 win at home to Maidstone, the Bees went to Sutton for the last game of the season and crashed 5-1. To rub things in, the demise of Newport County who resigned before the end of the season, saw their results expunged from the records and Barnet who had done the double over them lost all six points and at the end of the season they had to settle for 8th place. The Bees had lost 8 and won just 4 of their last 14 matches as Barry Fry saw his old club Maidstone United gain promotion to the league and not the Bees.
The only consolation for Barnet fans was success in the Clubcall Cup. The Bees won a replayed semi final tie 4-1 against Bishops Stortford with Gary Poole scoring twice before meeting Hyde United in the Final at Telford. The match finished 3-3 after extra time with Barnet's goals coming from George Reilly, Gary Poole and Dave Sansom. Barnet won the penalty shoot out 5-3. It was the club's biggest success since they won the Southern League First Division in 1977.
However, Barry Fry and chairman, Stan Flashman were still planning for success on a rather bigger scale with the holy grail still a place in the Football League. The question was, could Barry Fry go one better next season than he had in 1987 and 1988 and deliver league football to the Barnet fans?
|
1 |
Maidstone (P) |
P40 |
W25 |
D9 |
L6 |
F92 |
A46 |
PTS84 |
|
2 |
Kettering |
40 |
23 |
7 |
10 |
56 |
39 |
76 |
|
3 |
Boston U |
40 |
22 |
8 |
10 |
61 |
51 |
74 |
|
4 |
Wycombe |
40 |
20 |
11 |
9 |
68 |
52 |
71 |
|
5 |
Kidderminster |
40 |
21 |
6 |
13 |
68 |
57 |
69 |
|
6 |
Runcorn |
40 |
19 |
8 |
13 |
77 |
53 |
65 |
|
7 |
Macclesfield |
40 |
17 |
10 |
13 |
63 |
57 |
61 |
|
8 |
Barnet |
40 |
18 |
7 |
15 |
64 |
69 |
61 |
|
9 |
40 |
15 |
11 |
14 |
68 |
67 |
56 |
|
|
10 |
Northwich |
40 |
14 |
11 |
15 |
64 |
65 |
53 |
|
11 |
Welling |
40 |
14 |
11 |
15 |
45 |
46 |
53 |
|
12 |
Sutton Utd |
40 |
12 |
15 |
13 |
64 |
54 |
51 |
|
13 |
Enfield |
40 |
14 |
8 |
18 |
62 |
67 |
50 |
|
14 |
Altrincham |
40 |
13 |
10 |
17 |
51 |
61 |
49 |
|
15 |
Cheltenham |
40 |
12 |
12 |
16 |
55 |
58 |
48 |
|
16 |
Telford Utd |
40 |
13 |
9 |
18 |
37 |
43 |
48 |
|
17 |
Chorley |
40 |
13 |
6 |
21 |
57 |
71 |
45 |
|
18 |
Fisher |
40 |
10 |
11 |
19 |
55 |
65 |
41 |
|
19 |
Stafford |
40 |
11 |
7 |
22 |
49 |
74 |
40 |
|
20 |
Aylesbury (R) |
40 |
9 |
9 |
22 |
43 |
71 |
36 |
|
21 |
Weymouth (R) |
40 |
7 |
10 |
23 |
37 |
70 |
31 |
|
|
Newport County
(RESIGNED) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Goalscorers 1988/89
|
PLAYER |
Conference |
FA Cup |
FA Trophy |
Clubcall Cup |
Total |
|
Murphy |
14 |
2 |
|
1 |
17 |
|
Sanson |
7 |
2 |
|
3 |
12 |
|
Evans |
6 |
2 |
|
3 |
11 |
|
Abbott |
6 |
4 |
|
|
10 |
|
Bull |
6 |
|
|
|
6 |
|
Docker |
5 |
|
|
|
5 |
|
Nugent |
2 |
|
2 |
|
4 |
|
Shinners |
3 |
|
|
1 |
4 |
|
Turner |
3 |
|
|
1 |
4 |
|
Stein |
4 |
|
|
|
4 |
|
Wilson |
2 |
|
|
1 |
3 |
|
Angell |
2 |
|
|
|
2 |
|
Ironton |
|
1 |
|
1 |
2 |
|
Reilly |
2 |
|
|
|
2 |
|
Cox |
1 |
|
|
|
1 |
|
Clarke |
1 |
|
|
|
1 |
|
og |
1 |
|
|
|
1 |
|
Poole |
1 |
|
|
|
1 |
|
Regis |
1 |
|
|
|
1 |
