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A View Of League Two - Part One
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New year, new league. Here’s the first of our brief guide to the teams in League Two
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By:
Eric Hitchmo
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26/06/2025
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This article has been viewed 156 times.
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In the first part of a two-part series looking at our opponents on our return to the Football League, we cover Accrington Stanley to Fleetwood Town.
 ACCRINGTON STANLEY | | PLD 27 – W 6, D 8, L 13 | Last Meeting - 26/11/2022, L 0-1 (A), FA Cup | Fixtures this season – H 04/10/2025, A 10/01/2026 | | By Train: 3h30m - Euston to Preston, Preston to Accrington | | Full Opponent Profile |
Ugh. Just typing the name out gives me the chills. This is one of those places that really makes you question why you do it. I’ve been here far more times than is necessary or healthy, invariably for a miserable defeat in the coldest and most grim of locations.
Now an established Football League club, they spent a good amount of time in League One before dropping a couple of years back and struggled in League Two last season as well. Similarly to us, they have struggled for crowds over the years, averaging the lowest crowds in the league last season.
The ground has undergone some rework in recent years which Bees fans would have experienced in the last encounter, a narrow 1-0 defeat in the FA Cup in 2022-2023 which we played quite well in, by all accounts.
It’s not leaping off the page at me, I’ll be honest.
 BARROW | | PLD 20 – W 10, D 4, L 6 | Last Meeting - 08/02/2020, W 3-0 (H), FA Trophy | Fixtures this season – H 11/04/2026, A 25/10/2025 | | By Train: 3h35m - Euston to Lancaster, Lancaster to Barrow-in-Furness | | Full Opponent Profile |
A regular opponent in the early Conference years, Barrow is a bloody long way away. Voted out of the league in the 70s, they regained their place in 2020 and have performed reasonably since, coming close to the Playoffs on two occasions.
With a journey time of nearly five hours in the car and borderline inaccessible by train, you could make a weekend of it by staying in the nearby Lake District. Our record against them is half decent, but with former Solihull manager Andy Whing at the helm, we can only hope that he no longer has our number.
I’ve never been to Barrow so I have very little to say about it as a place, all I can say is it looked fairly grim from across Morecambe Bay. Maybe I’m wrong, someone may wish to correct me.
 BRISTOL ROVERS | | PLD 20 – W 5, D 5, L 10 | Last Meeting - 21/11/2018, W 2-1 (A), FA Cup | Fixtures this season – H 09/12/2025, A 29/12/2025 | | By Train: 1h32m – Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads | | Full Opponent Profile |
How nice it is to renew acquaintances with one of many clubs to claim to be Attendance FC. Our tussle for the 2014-2015 National League title is still fairly fresh in the memory as it was another of those occasions where the bigger club could not handle the fact they were beaten by “little old Barnet” despite far smaller crowds, etc etc etc. It’s a trope we are very used to.
Relegated from League One last season, we’ll meet them for the first time in the league since 2016. Bristol as a place offers a decent away trip though I’d recommend staying closer to the City Centre instead of the area around the Memorial Ground, which is an interesting mish-mash of seated stands and terracing. They’ve even brought back Darrell Clarke, who was the man in charge during that 2014-2015 battle.
They’ll get behind their team noisily and in big numbers, which would make it a bit more enjoyable if ~200 of us can sneak out of there with a win just like the last time we met in an FA Cup replay in 2018. Although there were only 96 of us that night. Ha!
 BROMLEY | | PLD 77 – W 33, D 13, L 31 | Last Last Meeting - 09/04/2024, D 1-1 (H), National League | Fixtures this season – H 03/04/2026, A 09/08/2025 | |
| By Train: 1h – New Barnet to Highbury & Islington, Victoria Line to Victoria, Victoria to Bromley South | Full Opponent Profile |
If you were a Barnet fan between the 1920s and 1950s you’d have been seeing a lot of Bromley. 57 years separated the two clubs in league matches between 1951 and 2018 when Bromley had by this point made it to the pinnacle of Non-League as we were relegated from League Two.
They’ve been a slow and steady build over the years and made their Football League debut last season following a Playoff win over Solihull at Wembley. It wasn’t a bad season for them either, finishing in the top half and not far away from the Playoffs again.
Their crowds have risen exponentially as well, riding the wave of success and renewed interest in local football. The ground is in the middle of a facelift, with the diabolical away end on the side of the pitch being replaced by something more modern and acceptable.
It’ll be one of our closer away trips next season given the fairly northern makeup of the division, so expect a good turnout from North to South London.
 CAMBRIDGE UNITED | | PLD 37 – W 13, D 10, L 14 | Last Meeting - 26/12/2017, L 0-1 (A), League Two | Fixtures this season – H 28/03/2026, A 15/11/2025, EFL Trophy TBC | | By Train: 1h25m – New Barnet to Welwyn Garden City, Welwyn Garden City to Cambridge or 48m direct from Kings Cross | | Full Opponent Profile |
Another club we met semi-regularly in the 1960s before their election to the Football League in 1970, Cambridge went on to bigger and better things. Remarkably, they very nearly became a founder member of the Premier League reaching the Championship (Division Two) Playoffs in 1992 after two back-to-back promotions, alas they were beaten and have spent the last thirty years floating between the third and fifth tiers. They were comfortably relegated from League One last season.
Easy to get to from Barnet, Cambridge as you’d expect offers plenty of potential for a good away day with a vast mixture of old and modern pubs to enjoy across the picturesque city. The ground itself retains its old-skool charm with terracing on the side and in the home end. A modern away end offers a decent view from behind the goal as well.
Our recent record against them is not so pretty, just the one win in the last nine competitive meetings going back to 2002. Regardless, the local real ale will surely help dampen any pain they may or may not inflict on us.
 CHELTENHAM TOWN | | PLD 45 – W 21, D 11, L 13 | Last Meeting – 27/01/2018, D 1-1 (A), League Two | Fixtures this season – H 14/02/2026, A 23/08/2025 | | By Train: 1h50m – Paddington to Bristol Parkway, Bristol Parkway to Cheltenham Spa or 1h59m direct from Paddington | | Full Opponent Profile |
A similar club to ourselves in terms of stature and Non-League pedigree, Cheltenham are now again firmly established in the Football League having had several forays into League One. Officially one of the nicer places we are due to visit next season, our shared history dates back through the Southern League, Conference and League Two with 45 meetings in total.
A fair old trek across the Chilterns and Cotswolds awaits us to visit the historic spa town which really is very lovely. Plenty of pubs, plenty of nightlife put this up there amongst the better away trips on offer, although we may not expect much of a return from them which just one win in our last eight trips there.
 CHESTERFIELD | | PLD 31 – W 10, D 4, L 17 | Last Meeting - 27/02/2024, L 0-2 (H), National League | Fixtures this season – H 28/02/2026, A 13/12/2025 | | By Train: 1h56m – St. Pancras to Chesterfield | | Full Opponent Profile |
Ooh relegation friends! Both Barnet and Chesterfield took their leave of League Two in the same season (2017-2018) and since then the Spireites have subjected us to numerous hammerings home and away. They went one better than us in 2023-2024, romping home as Champions with time to spare and didn’t waste any time last season in scraping into the League Two playoffs.
Failure against Walsall means we will reacquaint ourselves with them once more. Suffering from a touch of the big-time Charlie syndrome when we had the audacity to call off a game due to a frozen pitch in their title-winning season, they have nonetheless benefitted from the surge of interest in lower league football, averaging over 8,500 last season which is more or less double what they used to get at the terrific Saltergate which was scene of the greatest away day of all time when a solitary Jason Norville goal was enough for a 1-0 win in 2007.
The new ground is everything you’d expect from a new ground, four identical all-seater stands, but it is at least a reasonable distance from the town centre which offers a view of the Crooked Spire amongst its old market town surroundings.
 COLCHESTER UNITED | | PLD 22 – W 8, D 5, L 9 | Last Meeting - 24/02/2018, W 1-0 (A), League Two | Fixtures this season – H 30/08/2025, A 21/02/2026 | | By Train: 45m – Liverpool Street to Colchester | | Full Opponent Profile |
Colchester were a fiery foe of ours back in the 1990s with some fierce battles culminating in the infamous Playoff defeat at Layer Road in 1998 after Extra Time when the referee on the night, Terry Heilbron had a bit of a mad one.
Meetings since then have been scarce and perhaps a little less intimidating than before at their identikit, out of town, all-seater nothing of a ground. Despite its Roman heritage and newly granted city status, I have seen little evidence of much going on here, but it will be fairly easy to get to as one of our more local away trips.
They were our opponents on one of my most memorable Underhill evenings when a stunning goal from Jason Puncheon won us a rearranged FA Cup tie against the then Championship side which earned us a place in the fourth round for the first time in our history.
 CRAWLEY TOWN | | PLD 19 – W 9, D 4, L 6 | Last Meeting - 13/01/2018, L 0-2 (A), League Two | Fixtures this season – H 01/01/2026, A 17/03/2026 | | By train: 48m from Victoria or 1h38 from New Barnet to Finsbury Park, Finsbury Park to Three Bridges. | | Full Opponent Profile |
Another of those historically Non-League sides who can now realistically claim to be an established Football League side, we haven’t played Crawley as much you’d think. The most memorable meeting perhaps was in the FA Cup in 1993 when a goal celebration caused a wall to collapse (everyone was fine).
Usefully placed in the proximity of Gatwick Airport for a quick and easy trip for any exiled Bees, the town doesn’t offer a great deal else in terms of entertainment save for an interesting terrace accompaniment back in 2004 (if you were there, you’ll know) amidst one of the best away performances of the title winning season. Dean Sinclair’s fabulous late goal sparked pandemonium in the away end that night.
Crawley have flirted with League One, spending a total of four years there in two stints, though were immediately relegated last season having been promoted in 2023-2024. It’s not bad as modern stadia go, plenty of terracing albeit shallow in a reasonably modern setting.
 CREWE ALEXANDRA | | PLD 14 – W 4, D 2, L 8 | Last Meeting - 30/03/2018, W 2-1 (H), League Two | Fixtures this season – H 04/01/2026, A 13/09/2025 | | By Train: 1h35 Euston to Crewe. | | Full Opponent Profile |
Surely the most memorable meeting against Crewe was our first, the 7-4 home defeat in our very first Football League match in 1991. That set the tone for future meetings, as we have a pretty dismal record against The Railwaymen.
Crewe isn’t as far away as it looks, with the massive railway station (hence the nickname) acting as a major junction which is very quickly accessed from Euston. I remember being stunned at getting change from a tenner for five pre-match pints one year but that sort of thing is surely a relic of a bygone era. Maybe change from a twenty these days if you’re lucky.
That may have been the same day as the dye being cast on Mark Stimson’s wonderful stint in charge, culminating in a 7-0 defeat in only the third league game of the 2010-2011 season. Myself and certain other members of this establishment left at 3-0 a decided to take a drink for every goal we conceded from that point.
Don’t remember much of the remainder of that day.
 FLEETWOOD TOWN | | PLD 3 – W 1, D 0, L 2 | Last Meeting - 10/11/2019, L 0-1 (H), FA Cup | Fixtures this season – H 02/08/2025, A 06/04/2026 | | By Train: 2h54 Euston to Preston, Preston to Blackpool North…but it’s 7.5 miles away from the ground. | | Full Opponent Profile |
Fleetwood and Barnet missed each other like passing ships in the night as they ascended to League One via some helpful bankrolling, and we descended back to Non-League through, well, incompetence.
We have only met in league games twice in the relegation season of 2013. I remember them being utterly comical in the home fixture midweek at Underhill where we won 2-0, but they then were promoted the following season to League One via the Playoffs where they stayed for ten years.
I did manage to take in their ground however on a groundhopping/ticking expedition during our wilderness years. A confusing place, there was almost an eerie silence around the place as the pre-match music of Dreams by Fleetwood Mac played over the tannoy.
By train it’s not too far to Blackpool but then you’re nowhere near Fleetwood itself, so you might want to give yourself plenty of time if the train is your preference. Or the weekender route may be the preferred option particularly for those who enjoyed the festivities for Fylde last season, especially as it’s on Easter Monday.
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