Barnet winger, Lee Cook, who made such a big impression at the Hive at the start of last season was, along with Charlie MacDonald, the biggest name amongst the players not retained by Martin Allen at the end of last season. Cook has now signed for National League club, Eastleigh.
Cook was a late summer signing and a player who had come with a reputation having played at a high level earlier in his career. However, his recent playing record had been quite patchy; he had left Leyton Orient at the end of the 2012/13 season, where he had played alongside Charlie MacDonald and only made four appearances for Greek club, Apollon Smyrni during 2013/14.
Cook had begun his career at Aylesbury United before joining Watford where he played 45 games during the 2003/04 season. In the summer of 2004, he moved to QPR, where he had played on loan a couple of seasons before, for £150,000 and scored 10 goals in over 125 appearances for the Loftus Road club before moving across West London to Fulham in 2007 for £2,500,000; a big fee!!! Cook had played a big part in keeping QPR in the Championship that season.
However, at Fulham, things just didn't work out and he re-joined QPR in 2008, initially on loan before finally making the move permanent the following year for a reported £850,000. In 2010/11, Cook was part of the QPR squad that gained promotion to the Premier League, though the following season, Cook was sent out on loan for short spells at Charlton and Leyton Orient, who he eventually joined in the summer of 2012, making 45 appearances for the East London club and scoring five goals.
Cook made a really excellent start to his career at Barnet, scoring twice on his debut in the 5-0 win at Chester on the opening day of the season and then scoring a second half hat trick in the 4-0 home win over Dartford. Cook's form in the opening months of the season was highly impressive and he was a big hit with the Barnet fans. Goals in the away games at Southport and AFC Telford gave him 7 goals in his first 9 appearances for the club and put him amongst the leading scorers in the Conference, which was quite something for a winger. However, after scoring in the 3-3 home draw with Kidderminster he failed to score again for the club and it has to be admitted that his form did fade during the second half of the season, though his ability never looked in doubt.
Towards the end of the season, with the arrival of Conor Clifford, on loan from Southend United and the fine form of Mauro Vilhete, Cook's place in the side began to look under threat and, as with Charlie MacDonald, he only really played a cameo role in the run in to the end of the season, making just 3 starts in the last 11 games. His last appearance was in the 1-0 win at Dartford on Easter Monday and he failed to even make the bench for the last three games of the season.
It is highly probable that had Cook maintained his terrific form at the beginning of the season then Barnet would have been crowned champions much earlier than they did. However, like with MacDonald, his early season form helped give the team the tremendous start to the season that played such a large part, ultimately, in gaining Barnet promotion back to the Football League. His contribution was invaluable.
Barnet Mad wishes Lee Cook all the best with his new club.
