It’s a quick turnaround and a long trip to Lancashire for the Bees tomorrow as they travel to the Highbury Stadium for our Easter Monday match-up with Fleetwood Town.
The Bees fell short of all three points in the closing stages of Friday’s meeting with top-of-the-table Bromley.
From a former Bee opening the scoring, to a young Bee opening his account in amber and black, the first-half was evenly matched between the two teams, with 19-year-old Phil Chinedu’s first EFL goal silencing the travelling crowd after experienced forward and familiar face Nicke Kabamba had put the Ravens ahead.
The second-half saw hustle and heart from the home side, with chances for Ryan Glover, Mark Shelton and Kabongo Tshimanga keeping the momentum on the Bees’ side.
Barnet were reduced to ten men when captain Danny Collinge was dismissed with 69 minutes on the clock, but Tshimanga’s spot-kick and his seventh strike in amber and black saw the Bees with the advantage up until the last few seconds of the tie when Bromley substitute George Evans capitalised on a long throw in the danger area and sealed a point for the league-leaders.
Barnet’s last five results:
Barnet FC 2-2 Bromley
Barnet FC 1-0 Cambridge United
MK Dons 1 – 3 Barnet FC
Crawley Town 1-1 Barnet FC
Barnet FC 1-2 Newport County
Fleetwood Town:
After suffering relegation from League One at the end of the 2023/24 campaign, the Cod Army finished a respectable 14th last season and currently sit one place better than that in 13th with five games to go.
With 14 wins, 13 draws and 14 losses so far, the Lancashire outfit have lacked consistency despite stringing together an unbeaten run of eight games during February and March but only managing 3 wins in that string of results.
On Friday, Matt Lawlor’s side fell short to a Bristol Rovers side that have certainly turned their season around in the latter stages of the campaign.
Despite having more of the ball, more touches in the opposition box and creating four big chances, the side visiting the Memorial Ground came away empty-handed when Joe Quigley connected with a delivery from Jack Sparkes for the Rovers and headed home the only goal of the game.
Fleetwood Town’s last five results:
Bristol Rovers 1-0 Fleetwood Town
Swindon Town 1-1 Fleetwood Town
Fleetwood Town 1-0 Crawley Town
Grimsby Town 1-0 Fleetwood Town
Fleetwood Town 0-0 Tranmere Rovers
In the opposition dugout:
Matt Lawlor was named as the new Fleetwood boss on St Patrick’s Day following a successful spell as interim where he guided the Cod Army through their eight-game unbeaten run.
Initially joining the Lancashire club in 2019 as a youth coach, the 37-year-old progressed to head of coaching and player development, playing an instrumental role in guiding youngsters through the club’s pathway.
Local to the area, Lawlor understands what it means to represent Fleetwood and wants energy, pace and exciting football from his players and has a clear identity of how he visions the club progressing.
Ones to watch:
A player to watch out for on Monday will be the Cod Army’s top goalscorer, Mark Helm. The 24-year-old has eight goals and a further five assists to his name, making him one of the club’s main attacking threats.
The Manchester United academy graduate is enjoying his second season in Lancashire and as an attacking midfielder, is incredibly versatile and has the ability to operate as a box-to-box midfielder, more of a playmaker or even out on the right.
Helm can dictate the tempo with how he controls the ball and is also seen as a dead ball specialist.
Last time the two sides met:
After seven years away from the EFL, The Bees’ return to the Football League saw Fleetwood Town as the club’s first competitive opponents at The Hive back in August.
A starting XI that included stars from the National League title-winning campaign a few months prior, new loanees who have since moved on and four names who have played almost every minute of the 20256/26 campaign, the Bees’ new League Two adventure was just beginning.
The Bees were the side to find the back of the net first on the summer’s afternoon in London, but Danny Collinge’s tap in was ruled out for offside.
It was Fleetwood’s Will Davies who gave his side the lead midway through the first-half, with the Cod Army extending their lead early in the second-half through Elliot Bonds.
Dennis Adeniran tested the Fleetwood shot-stopper with a fierce strike, but despite creating an abundance of goalscoring opportunities, the Bees were unable to capitalise on the opening day of the season.
COYB