The curtain soon closes on the 2025/26 campaign, but there’s one more test for the Bees to contend, as they make the trip to North Yorkshire to face relegation-threatened Harrogate Town at the Exercise Stadium.
Countless records were broken by Callum Stead last weekend when he found the back of the net on five ocassions in our final home game of the campaign against a struggling Gillingham side.
Goal number one came six minutes after kick-off and despite the Gills finding a way back in through youngster Sullivan Booth on his football league debut, Stead sealed his hat-trick in the first-half, before adding a fourth before the break.
Crichlow got in on the action before the referee called for half-time, with the defender completely unmarked and heading home another Glover delivery from a short corner.
Stead added goal number five with 70 minutes on the clock, firing from close-range after latching onto a Kane Smith corner.
The Bees frustratingly conceded late on, allowing Gareth Ainsworth’s side to grab a second, but the win had been sealed long before that with a comfortable four-goal cushion intact since the halfway stage.
Barnet’s last five results:
Barnet FC 6-2 Gillingham FC
Notts County 1-2 Barnet FC
Barnet FC 3-2 Barrow A.F.C
Fleetwood Town 2 – 5 Barnet FC
Barnet FC 2-2 Bromley
Harrogate:
The Sulphurites find themselves in an extremely unfortunate position heading into the final day, with a draw/win needed and other results to go their way if they are to be members of the EFL next season.
Simon Weaver’s side occupy the first relegation spot, but on the same points as Crawley Town above them and only a point behind both Newport County and Tranmere Rovers.
The North Yorkshire club have won their last two games, leaving it late against Colchester United with left-back Jacob Slater scoring the match-winner in the 9th minute of added time to record the first of back-to-back wins for the first time in seven months.
Out of their four shots on target the following week away at Walsall, two of those found the back of the net through Shawn McCoulsky early in the second-half at the Pallet-Track Bescot Stadium.
Goalkeeper Mark Oxley was also praised for his heroics in the game, producing some fine saves to keep out the Saddlers on their own turf.
The result in the West Midlands last weekend temporarily lifted the Sulphurites from the drop zone, but Newport County’s winner against Oldham Athletic, with 108 minutes on the clock, saw them slip back into the bottom two.
Harrogate Town’s last five results:
Walsall 0-2 Harrogate Town
Harrogate Town 1-0 Colchester
Newport County 2-1 Harrogate Town
Harrogate Town 2-3 Bristol Rovers
Grimsby Town 1-3 Harrogate Town
In the opposition dugout:
Simon Weaver is approaching 17 years in charge of Harrogate, after taking on an initial player-manager role in May 2009.
Previewing this weekend’s game, the 48-year-old says his footballing relationship with Dean Brennan goes back quite some time and acknowledged that the Irishman has ‘bought good football to the football club’.
He also knows his side’s concentration levels must remain high with amount of goals Barnet have scored in the later stages of the campaign.
Ones to watch:
Despite making only six starts this season, with two of them coming in the last couple of games, Mark Oxley has kept back-to-back clean sheets and played a crucial part in Harrogate’s bid to remain in the EFL.
The 35-year-old has almost 350 EFL appearances to his name across all leagues, with over a century of those coming in a Sulphurite shirt, but with James Belshaw the main man in between the sticks before his move to Notts County in January and Ipswich Town loanee Henry Gray not favoured for the final games.
Oxley has made 6 crucial saves across the last two games and will be hoping to produce more of the same in a vital game for the club’s future.
The experienced shot-stopper’s calm presence between the sticks in the dying moments have proved vital in the club’s recent wins.
Last time the sides met:
The Hive played host to a 1-1 draw back in November. Britt Assombalonga opened the scoring in the first-half, creating an opportunity out of nothing to put the Bees ahead, but that was cancelled out by Jack Muldoon in the 78th minute.
A game where Barnet had a total of 17 shots and five on target and 43 touches in the opposition’s box compared to Harrogate’s three, the chances fell for the Bees that day but didn’t find the back of the net.
This is the first football league meeting between the two sides at the Exercise Stadium, with the only previous encounters coming in 2018 and 2019, with Barnet falling to defeat on both occasions.
COYB