“Well they have gone up a league, so remember that, it will take time xx”
That was a lovely text message shown to me after the game by one of our lot from their probably fairly Barnet-fatigued wife on the back of a score update after the second goal. I make her right.
Bromley away was not a fixture that jumped off the page when they were announced. My only previous visit here for an FA Trophy disappointment eighteen months ago. This one proved to be disappointingly similar.
Either way, by Saturday morning the sun was shining and that pre-game buzz and blind optimism was back. According to my personal stat page on this website, this was to be my 500th Barnet game. Perhaps the next milestone whenever that will be will be more of on occasion.
I have a very bad habit for local away games of giving myself the minimal time possible to make the train out of a London terminus. One day I won’t have to run up escalators and fly out of tube doors in a desperate bid to make the same train as my mates. It was a hot and bothered arrival on the 12:55 out of Victoria. Made it, though.
Despite the absolute shambles of ticket organisation for the game, it is always quite exciting to be in a sold out Barnet away end. It’s not really what we do. I enjoyed the father and son on the train in Barnet gear saying hello to our group, clearly excited for the afternoon ahead. Never seen them before but that’s just a great example of the positive social engagement football provides.
Arriving in Bromley, as alluded to on our last visit, you can’t help but feel they’ve played a bit of a blinder by decking the station out in Bromley FC badges and signs. It’s great. Fair play. A little misleading given the lengthy walk from Bromley South to the ground but you can’t deny this is a success story of a small club. Credit where it’s due for an ascent that’s felt calculated rather than financially doped.
After a swift one in the pokey Cork and Cask, we joined a few others next door in The Bricklayers Arms. Great atmosphere in there with lots of happy, familiar faces. Pre-game in the sunshine of a beer garden. I turned to my regular accomplice mid general chat during the televised lunchtime game with the insight: “It’s good going to football, isn’t it?”
The longer than you think walk to Hayes Lane followed. This prompted a question: Is there an actual good London away day? Bromley is similar to Sutton in the lengthy walk to the ground. Dagenham feels like the tube line goes on forever. Orient has been a long time and my memory is vague on it. Just feels like all our more local games aren’t the back drop for a great day out. Am I missing one?
Upon arrival, we were met with a Hive-esque queue although thankfully this did disperse fairly quickly. One of our supporters playing a one man game of how far can you lean back without falling over and losing was great pre match entertainment in the line.
The well publicised ticket debacle came from us being given a couple of blocks in the home end behind the goal. It’ll be interesting when Gillingham go there pre-refurb on the side stand. There was food, beer and toilets but a very rudimentary offering. A less than adequate set up for a club that otherwise seems to be getting a lot right with their general growth and progress.
The game started and by 3:30 we were still waiting for it to properly do so. Turgid. Never has that word been more appropriate. There was nothing to report either way. Not a great advert for fourth tier football. Arguably the highlight of the first third was former Barnet man Nicke Kabamba coming to warm up in front us. Thankfully, he got the reception he was due. Didn’t give us an awful lot back - but guess he was focused on the job for his new employers. I won’t lie, I’d have liked a clap for the tequila song, Nicke. And at the end - but you do you.
Ten minutes before the half time interval, we gave away a silly free kick just outside our box. Needless. From the whipped ball into the box, Bromley scored. 1-0. Michael Cheek, who has more than made the step up to League 2 after his golden boot Football League debut season last year, despite his advancing years. From our marking, it looked like we didn’t know this. A very disappointing trudge from there to half time.
Very much home from home at the break as the beer queue snaked out almost back to the pitch. Many gave up unless they’d gone very early. As away end experiences go, you’d like to think it can only get better from this.
Our new goalkeeper, Cieran Slicker had his family and best mate, new £30 million Chelsea forward Liam Delap present. They’d played together at Manchester City and Ipswich. Credit to Delap for stopping for a photo with every youngster that asked in the away end. A shame not to provide our celebrity visitor with some Barnet bundles. There’s a great stat or something in there about Slicker making his Football League debut after his international one for Scotland a couple of months ago.
Probably a little delayed mentioning that situation. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one with raised eyebrows reading this news on Thursday. Now, if Owen Evans is actually injured and it’s long term, it makes sense to act to cover. My personal feeling is that things may be a little more cut and dry than that. Last week was a disastrous start but Evans has been so good for us in every other game. We don’t know all the facts and what’s gone on, but the visuals for the common fan aren’t great on this one. It just feels a bit personal towards him. The biggest surprise for me is that if Evans signing was taking longer than expected and pissing Brennan off, why did he go through with it? It seems like a lot of wasted effort. I’ll be very surprised if we see Evans play for Barnet again.
Anyway, back to the game at hand. The second half sadly picked up where the first left off. It wasn’t a good watch and neither were Barnet in any shape or form. We looked uncomfortable in everything we did.
Bromley could have and maybe should have had an early second half second only for Thompson to fire a fire one on one wide of the post. It felt like the threat was much there from them, or indeed, that we’d be the more likely to give away an opportunity to score.
Whilst the dour early second half stages played out, I received an email from the club advising me of the £49 a game bolt on to go in the players lounge and have some crisps. With a bit more thought and bang for your buck, this could be a good idea. Not sure in its current guise and especially not when trailing in a game like this, it was the time to put out to the mailing list. Timing is everything. I wonder how many sign ups for the 102 spaces they’ll get. Think I’ll be holding onto my £1078 for other things, personally.
A talking point (I suppose) of the second half was the referee going off injured, which caused quite a delay. There was an announcement asking for a qualified referee which got the usual amused reaction. Unclear if anyone stepped forward as no stoppage time board went up later, so I think they had to just make do however one does in that scenario.
Joe Hugill has not had the best of starts to his Barnet career and this continued with a wasted decent opportunity as time ticked on. Moments later, Slicker cleared the ball high and wide into the stand when he could have let it go and it was all in all a bit painful to watch. Crossing to little men in the middle whilst Oli Hawkins stood casually warming up having a chat with Kabamba was a little frustrating.
The big men were thrown on for both teams as the clock ticked towards the end. Hawkins impact stretched to a header against the bar but the game being stopped due to others clashing heads. Galvin looked decent again when he came on down the left. Not a great deal else to comment on. In my opinion, Mark Shelton can feel very hard done by as an unused sub given the role he played last season. Others in his position didn’t show many signs of being an ‘upgrade’ on this performance, at least. Oforbh may go on to be fantastic for us, but that was a particularly difficult debut.
Football loves to laugh at you so when Nicke Kabamba was put through in stoppage time, you knew what was coming next. A horrible pass from Smith led to the relatively easy chance but nonetheless, it was finished with standard Kabamba aplomb. A good finish, something they’re yet to see too many of at Bromley. He elected not to really celebrate which wasn’t a great surprise. When not playing us, let’s hope he can kick on from here and keep scoring.
A decent chunk of the travelling support made their way out as that hit the net. Fair enough. Those that did stay gave the team a decent ovation off the pitch. It was disappointing and we had been truly rubbish, but no one needs to lose their heads. There was a bit of anger during the game, but all positive between players and fans at full time. It’s frustrating but there very much has to be a period of grace allowed whilst we find our feet. This is the manager’s first time at this level, too. Easy to forget with his front-footed approach, but he is also learning, too.
It’s a long season ahead. Of course, it could be an especially long one if many more games carry on in this vein. However, it is early days. As last week, this is another big reality check for everyone and perhaps something to simmer expectations. We all want success and to win every week. We all got used to that last season. But we have to be a little more pragmatic, for now. It is apparent the manager needs to find his best eleven, sharpish. There’s also perhaps a case for too many new players being blooded in from what’s available - given the success of the 24/25 personnel remaining.
Onto Walsall at home next week. Before anything happens on the pitch, the big thing will be to see if there’s is a genuinely positive follow up from the club after the disaster of the first home game. The statement this week was a first step forward - but let’s see actions speaking loudest.
If nothing else for next week, we can all be very excited about Albert Adomah coming to The Hive with the visiting team. I’ve already had my kids practicing their best “Albert! Albert!” chants. Whatever happens next week, he ought to receive the heroes’ welcome he deserves. What we could have done for a bit of Albert magic in this one. Any supporters who didn’t get to see him in his Underhill prime, scour a bit of YouTube this week and you’ll quickly see why he was so loved.
Let’s hope we’re all doing that big Adomah style smile next Saturday evening for the right reason - and, about the result anyway, he’s not!
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