Barnet started the 1922/23 season with a 2-2 home draw with Hampstead Town in the Athenian League. The Barnet team that day was; H Brightman, F Garrett, F Fletcher, G Miers, W Allen (captain), H Meadows, G Deeks, R Stringer, G Sparrow, Harding, R Beckett. Stringer and Harding scored the Barnet goals.
Barnet then lost 2-1 at home to Summerstown before going out to Biggleswade & District, losing 2-1 at Biggleswade, George Sparrow scoring for Barnet. Two more goals from Sparrow, along with one from W Paul, helped Barnet to a 3-2 league win away at Enfield for their first win of the season which left the club in 7th place. However, they then went down to a disappointing 2-0 defeat away at Guildford.
However, things were better in the FA Amateur Cup. Barnet beat Hitchin Athletic 6-0in the 1st qualifying round with Sparrow grabbing a hat trick, Warner getting two and Cornett one. A 4-1 league defeat at leaders Bromley followed before two more Sparrow goals gave Barnet a 2-0 home win over Hertford Town in the second qualifying round. Harding scored twice in the next round in a 2-1 win away at Enfield, Barnet’s second win over their rivals that season!! In the 4th qualifying round, Barnet Athenian League rivals 3-1 at Underhill with Sparrow scoring twice and Warner scoring once.
Meanwhile, Barnet also progressed in the London Senior Cup winning 4-3 at Old Latymerians in the 3rd qualifying round, with two goals from Warner and one apiece for George Deeks and George Sparrow and progressed to the 5th qualifying round by defeating Woolwich Polytechnic 6-2 at Underhill with four goals from Cornett and two from Sparrow. They then beat 5-0 at home to Wood Green Town in the 5th qualifying round with Sparrow scoring all five!!
In the Athenian League, Barnet had a spell of good form and results, starting with a 1-0 home win over Luton Clarence, thanks to a Sparrow goal, which took Barnet up to 8th in the table. Bromley were leaders with 22 points from 11 games in a perfect record. In their next match, Bromley beat Sutton 8-2.
The next league game saw Barnet and Winsor & Eton draw 3-3 at Underhill. Barnet inside forward, Warner who had scored twice was sent off for punching an opponent near the end of the game.
Warner and Cornett scored in a 2-2 draw at Sutton United and Barnet won again at Cheshunt, this time 2-1 in the league on Christmas Day. The next day saw Barnet lose 3-1 at home to St AlbansCity, Sparrow scoring, and the year ended with a 2-1 win in the return league match with Sutton United, Sparrow and Deeks scoring for Barnet. The win over Sutton saw Barnet move up to 4th place in the Athenian League table with 11 points from 11 games and behind Bromley, Southall and Kingstonian. However, there was little doubt who was going to win the title as Bromley had 28 points from 14 games.
The new year started disappointingly with a 2-0 home defeat by Isthmian League Leytonstone and a shock 2-1 defeat to London League, STD (Sunbeam – Talbot – Darracq Co), a works team from East Acton. Cornett failed to appear and Barnet played with 10 men. They were also without George Sparrow.
In the Athenian League, Barnet’s form was up and down with draws against Southall and Luton Clarence, a defeat at Windsor & Eton and a 1-0 home win against struggling Guildford. That result left Barnet 6th with 14 points from 14 games, Bromley were still top having only dropped one point all season and had 29 points from 15 matches.
Barnet had a pretty good finish to the league season, winning five and losing three of their last eight matches to finish the season in 6th place, which was a big improvement on 12th, the previous season. Otherwise, it was a rather uneventful season. George Sparrow was top scorer with 30 goals, just one less than Alf Jennings had scored two seasons earlier.
At the end of the season, Guildford and St AlbansCity (who had finished 2nd) left the Athenian League and BarkingTown and Redhill joined. St Albans joined the Isthmian League, and won the championship in their first season.
