Barnet is north-west London, midway between London and Watford.  It is close enough to the capital to catch a glimpse of Wembley’s arch.

By road, it’s a distance of 100 to 110 miles and, given Barnet’s fine season so far, there is likely to be reasonable away support in spite of the late kick off.

The reverse fixture was in August.  Barnet won it 1-0 with a late injury time winner from Zak Brunt.

Barnet were the bookies favourite at the start of the season to win the National League.  The bookies may be right – Barnet are 3rd in the league, behind Rovers by 1 point.  They have the league’s best home record and are currently the league’s highest scoring team.

Last season the Bees finished 2nd in the league, they had the 2nd best home record, and the 2nd best offence (with 91 goals scored).  In both cases they lost out to promoted Chesterfield.  They faced Solihull Moors in the play-off semi-final and were thumped 4-0 at home.

Barnet began their campaign this year away at Halifax.  It wasn’t the best start for them, losing 2-1.  However, they quickly got into their stride and have notched up 15 wins so far.  They have had 5 defeats – all of these have come away from home.  Barnet have only been held to a draw 5 times – all of these draws are quite recent (4 draws in their last 5 matches).

Barnet are on a run of 10 games unbeaten.

Nicke Kabamba has only had 13 starts this season.  But Barnet’s number 9 is their top scorer with 10 goals.

Look out for the 2 new signings Barnet have made this month – striker Lee Ndlovu, a long-term Barnet target, has just arrived at Barnet from Boreham Wood on a 2 and a half year deal.  His manager expects lots of goals from Ndlovu!  Also new to the Barnet squad is Cheltenham loanee Owen Evans.

Barnet have been around in one form or another since 1888.  They played at Underhill, in Chipping Barnet, from 1907 to 2013.  The move to The Hive in 2013 meant the club moving several miles from Chipping Barnet.  This put the club in the London Borough of Harrow, near Edgware.  The facilities at The Hive are great, but it hasn’t felt like the club’s spiritual home for many fans, and it is a bit in the middle of nowhere.  There are hopeful moves to relocate the club back to Chipping Barnet if possible.

Barnet were first promoted to the Football League in 1991, and they stayed there for 10 years.  However, it was back to The Conference between 2001 -2005 before another promotion earned them 8 more years in the EFL.  Between 2013 -2015, it was back to The Conference for another couple of seasons.  Promoted again in 2015 Barnet lasted 3 seasons in the EFL before, again, finding themselves back in The National League where they have been since 2018.  They have suffered defeat in the National League play-offs in each of the last 2 seasons.

The home of the Bees is The Hive (you can see what they did there!).  It’s a modern stadium (built in 2013) with a capacity of 6,500 (all but 1,000 seated).

Barnet’s average home gates are less than 2,000 this season, similar to (slightly higher) than FGR.

Barnet’s Hive Stadium.

Dutch international Edgar Davids is one of Barnet’s list of famous former managers.  This list also includes names like Ray Clemence, Alan Mullery, Mark McGhee, & Lawrie Sanchez.

Current manager, Dean Brennan, has been in charge since 2021.

In short, there isn’t one!

The London Borough of Barnet is a local authority area on the northern outskirts of London. The borough was formed in 1965.  The Hive is not in this borough.  High Barnet or Chipping Barnet is an old market town that used to be a coaching stop on the Great North Road.  However, The Hive is quite some way from any charms of Chipping Barnet.  The only attractions near to The Hive are a shopping centre and the M1 motorway!