Nick Sandamas with a mid-season update on Barnet FC’s promotion challenge

Barnet FC take on Southend United at Roots Hall — The Bees in action at Southend in January – (Credit – Nick Sandamas)

As we enter February, Barnet FC are still very much in the race for the one automatic promotion place to the English Football League,

The Bees are involved in of the most open title races in recent years with no less than four teams vying for top spot.

Manager Dean Brennan, who turned down an approach from Swindon to start his third full term in charge, carried out a major overhaul following last season’s play-off failure with many ins and outs.

Probably the most important signing was last season’s on-loan midfielder Anthony Hartigan signing permanently.

Pre-season went well, with the Bees unbeaten, but the first seven league games yielded three defeats alongside a win over Forest Green with a late Zak Brunt goal and 7-0 crushing of Tamworth.

Defeat at Gateshead at the beginning of September was followed by a seven-game winning run to hoist the Bees to the top of the table. This included good away wins at rivals Wealdstone and Aldershot as well as progress into the FA Cup first round.

After that, successive away defeats were followed by victory over Rochdale to end October in second spot.

An FA Cup exit to Exeter City in the first round was followed a week later by a goalless home draw against Oldham which ended the Bees perfect home record.

The comeback of the season occurred in the following game, going from 3-1 down to beat Dagenham & Redbridge 4-3 with Rhys Browne the match winner.

Further wins against Woking, Yeovil and a draw at Hartlepool kept the Bees right in the pack before December saw them play all their games at home.

It started with a comfortable win over Aveley in the FA Trophy. Then fans enjoyed a goal of the season contender from Mark Shelton in a 4-1 win over Ebbsfleet, which was followed by two draws against FC Halifax and Sutton. It took Ryan Glover’s last ditch strike to salvage a point against the U’s to end 2024 in top spot.

A Callum Stead goal meant the Bees started 2025 with a draw against Eastleigh, while FA Trophy interest ended in a 3-1 away loss to Altrincham.

The big news last month was the surprise departure of top striker Nicke Kabamba to Bromley with Lee Ndlovu bought in from Boreham Wood to replace him.

However, this didn’t seem to affect the Bees too much as they went on to draw at Forest Green, followed by a 3-0 win at Southend to make it twelve league games unbeaten.

So, as we enter the last three months of the season with 19 games to go, the Bees are very much in the title race which has become a tussle with Forest Green, York City and Gateshead for that top spot. York visit The Hive in what promises to be an eagerly awaited top of the table clash in a few weeks’ time.

My thoughts are that this looks certain to go down to the wire. I am hoping that, come the last game of the season on 5th May, it is the Bees who will be celebrating and if not, then at least preparing for the play-offs again.

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