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Millwall Cup Shock
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Shock of the night, how proud.
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By:
Eric Hitchmo
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02/09/2009
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More On Millwall
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So the Millwall game, as you may have expected, passed without any of the hysteria from some quarters regarding the reputation of our opponents and the apparent presence of trouble. Plenty of rumour and conjecture was thrown about regarding who, and how many people would be out looking for trouble but there wasn't any.
Did you hear that loads of Tottenham are coming up? And West Ham are out looking for revenge? There's gonna be hundreds of police officers y'know! The closest rumour to the truth there was the latter, as a huge police presence filled the surrounding Barnet streets. Unnecessary is perhaps a word I can use to sum that one up, and the main worry of the whole evening, football included, is just how much the club will have to pay to foot the bill of police horses, vans, and plenty more officers on the ground.
Add to that the Pavilion being shut. It's not as if the place would have been packed out and a big payday was missed, but it's still a bit of money lost. Some communication on the closure from the club would have been nice though, it could have saved me about two minutes of walking. It was a good job that Millwall bought a sizeable following with them, it'll go towards recouping the losses.
As for the football, it was even more encouraging. On the face of it, we've won a fourth game in a row and kept a fourth clean sheet in a row. If you look a below the surface, it'll show that we stood up well to a strong League One side who were on top during the first half. A defence that looked iffy at the start of the season has suddenly turned into this solid looking unit. Even with a few changes being made from Saturday's game, we still looked strong as a team. Has the pre-season notion that our strength in depth would be lacking been dispelled? Too early to say I guess, but those early signs are encouraging.
Jake Hyde notched a fourth goal of the season, keeping him well clear of the 'chasing pack' in the clubs goalscoring charts. A great start for the lad, as I mentioned after Saturday too. Interesting stat picked up that he scored with his last touch on Saturday and his first last night too. If you like stats that is...! Should he keep his starting place on Friday? Should John O'Flynn still be a shoe-in to start based on Hyde's performances? Interesting question...
As the fallout from Saturday's win over Sven's Notts County continues, Ian Hendon must be commended for his superb reply to big time charlie Ricky Ravenhill following his comments after his massive, all conquering side were humbled by little Barnet. Ravenhill was condescending and arrogant in his comments towards the team and club, and Hendon absolutely slammed the former Grimsby, Chester and Darlington man. A glittering career there I'm sure you'll agree.
A personal swipe was added, as Hendon questioned whether Ravenhill would still be part of the team when County continue to add to their squad with bigger names (not in those words, of course). Absolutely brilliant to read, and I hope it filters its way back to Meadow Lane. Maybe they can put it on their dressing room wall as inspiration. Though you'll probably be in the stand won't you Ricky, surplus to requirements I expect.
More than that though, it shows that Hendon is committed to the club and whilst it's clear he won't take any crap from his own players with regards their attitude and performance, it's also clear that he will not take any crap from any outside who attempts to undermine his team and Barnet Football Club. That's exactly what we need, and I love it.
There's a feel good factor around the club, and it continues into Friday with a wave of optimism as we could go top at Northampton. Ooh how exciting it is. In all seriousness, when was the last time you were enjoying Barnet games like this? When was the last time we even had a sniff at being top, even if it could only be for a matter of hours. It promises to be another good day out, half days were already booked off work for this one, and it'll be a regular jaunt around London before getting the train out to Northampton.
Hopefully there'll be loads of us there...if you're not going, why not? Leave work a little early on Friday, gowon you know it makes sense...!
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