Birchall joins Dover

Former Barnet striker, Adam Birchall has signed a two year deal with Blue Square South club, Dover Athletic. Dover, who played the Bees in a friendly at the weekend, are managed by former Underhill favourite, Andy Hessenthaller.

Adam Birchall joined Barnet on loan from Mansfield Town in November 2006. He was signed mainly as a replacement for the departed Tresor Kandol who had moved to Leeds. Birchall had started his career at Arsenal and had had a fairly successful loan spell at Wycombe Wanderers before moving to Mansfield Town in the summer of 2005. However, he never really settled at Field Mill and found it hard to gain a regular place in the side, only making 16 starts in 15 months at the club and scoring just 2 goals. He spent much of his time there on the sub's bench and made 20 appearances as a substitute.

His move to Underhill was with a view to him earning a more permanent move. He made his debut as a late substitute away at Bristol Rovers where Barnet went down 2-0. The following Saturday, he made his full debut at home to Northampton Town in the 2^nd round of the FA Cup and scored his first goal for the Bees in a resounding 4-1 home win over the League One side. Barnet had been 1-0 down at half time and it was Birchall's goal that brought the scores level.

Birchall quickly impressed the Barnet fans with a series of fine performances in the ensuing weeks. He scored the winning goal in successive home games against Peterborough and Bury as the Bees climbed the league table with four wins on the trot. Manager, Paul Fairclough wanted to keep him and Mansfield were prepared to let him go and so, Birchall signed on as a Bee.

Birchall was pleased with the Barnet fans chanting his name, something that had not previously happened to him. Soon after signing, Birchall scored the only goal in a 1-0 home win over Macclesfield as Barnet started to push towards a possible play-off place. Birchall had now scored four goals in his first nine matches; three of them match winners and the other a key equaliser in the cup match against Northampton. However, despite the fact that he continued to play well, this initial goal burst was not to last, he only scored two more goals that season, at home to Accrington and Hartlepool. Like Barnet, the initial promise faded and he ended the season with 6 goals from 23 matches. Barnet finished 14^th.

The following season, Birchall, and Barnet, started quite slowly. Birchall scored in the 1^st round league cup match at Norwich, but the Canaries won 5-2. Birchall then went 6 games without scoring before a burst of four goals in four games over a period of 10 days at the end of September and beginning of October; a goal in the 2-0 home win over Rotherham, two in the 4-1 away win at Stockport and he scored Barnet's goal in the 2-1 JPT defeat at Brighton.

Birchall often seemed to score goals in bursts with long, somewhat barren periods, in between. It was December before he scored again, grabbing an extra time winner in the 2^nd round FA Cup replay at home to Burton. He then scored in the following match, a 4-1 away defeat at Lincoln, but shortly afterwards, Birchall was dropped to the bench. He came on, as a substitute, to score a superb goal to gain the Bees a 1-1 draw at Swindon in the 3^rd round of the FA Cup and played in the replay helping Barnet reach the 4^th round for the second successive season. He then scored in the 2-1 home defeat by Brentford.

The last few months of the season saw him hit his best run of goalscoring form since he first arrived at the club. During March and April, Birchall scored 6 goals to take his tally to 15 goals for the season, including two braces at home to Lincoln and Bury. He also scored in the away matches at Bradford and his old club, Mansfield. Birchall finished as the club's top scorer for the season, but his scoring was erratic and many people hoped that in the following season, he could become a more regular scorer, perhaps the 20 goal a season type player, the club was looking for.

In the event, the Bees did have this kind of player in 2008/09 but it was John O'Flynn, newly arrived from Irish club, Cork City, who started scoring at, roughly, a rate of a goal every other game and later this was emulated by another new arrival, Paul Furlong. However, for Birchall the season was a major disappointment. The arrival of O'Flynn in September led to him being often relegated to the bench, although he did play alongside O'Flynn some of the time, under Fairclough at least.

However, following Fairclough's resignation and Hendon taking on the role of acting manager, Birchall was consigned wholly to the sub's bench. It was only when O'Flynn was injured in the home match against Rotherham in April that Birchall regained his starting place under Hendon. He scored in the 1-1 home draw wit Luton, only his 4^th goal of the season and his only goal under Ian Hendon.

Birchall was a popular player with the fans who appreciated the 100% effort that he always gave Barnet. He had a good touch and was always capable of good build up play but, in the final analysis, he didn't quite seem to have the ability to put the ball in the net often enough. He was often in the right place but his finishing wasn't quite good enough most of the time and this was then highlighted by the arrival of O'Flynn.

However, his contribution to the Bees in the last couple of seasons has been a valuable one and it is by no means out of the question that he will be snapped up by another league club following his release on a free transfer this week. I'm sure that all Barnet fans will wish Adam all the best with his new club.