First Round Proper

BARNET F.C.

1

CHELMSFORD CITY F.C.

1

5th Nov 22

The Hive Stadium

Round Trip: 68 miles

Ticket: £15.00

Food Rating: 4

Att: 1,725

Guess the crowd: Tom

After 6 qualifying rounds over 7 matches including a replay we are finally here at the First Round Proper, following Chelmsford City on an away tie at Barnet; although Barnet is actually closer to us than Chelmsford!

The sat nav was set for The Hive stadium but a bit concerned as we got closer and were approaching Edgware rather than Barnet. It turns out Barnet left their Underhill stadium for The Hive which is modern purpose-built stadium in 2013. And very impressive it is too with on-line ticketing with QR coded, unmanned turnstiles and very large car park again with QR coded payment and everything cash free. I guess we’ll find that is now the norm as we progress through higher tiers to the Premier League but certainly impressed with the overall set up and facilities of what is only a National League ground.

As our squad of 7 approached the away end at The Hive, the place was buzzing.

Our seats were fortunately high enough to protect from what was a very wet and windy afternoon and with great anticipation of Chelmsford continuing their cup journey kicked-off but within 60 seconds the Bees had the ball in the net right in front of use. Bit of a shock but disappointment turned to cheers from our Chelmsford end when ruled off-side.

Barnet pressed much of the first 15 minutes as expected of the higher ranked home team but it was the Clarets coming closest from a Jackson shot well saved by the Bees keeper.

Barnet should have taken the lead when a free-kick cross was deflected a couple of times and finished with a header to the top right-hand corner of the goal, only for Ejeheri to pull off a magnificent finger-tip save at full stretch.

An entertaining but goal-less first half and so off to sample the fanfayre. There was a large efficiently operated bar in the warmth below the full length of the stand but we were after the hot stuff given the weather. Disappointingly there was only a single tea hut on the outside with a huge queue which took 25 minutes by which time they had run out burgers to the annoyance of our two young Clarettes, but the seasoned sausage hot dog wasn’t too bad. Coffee was good but overall the offer was judged at just 5.5/10.

Only 5 minutes after the interval Barnet took the lead from Wynter’s close range shot and the rest of the half was evenly balanced with both sides testing the opposite keepers, especially Ejeheri who once again showed great athleticism enjoying his on-loan spell from Arsenal, denying further Barnet goals.

On 90 minutes the touchline board glowed 3 added minutes. Bees’ keeper Walker, who had earlier been booked for time wasting, turned a stinging Blackwell shot out for a corner. The corner came over and that man Charlie Ruff, man of the match against Aldershot in the previous round, was there to fire in an equaliser with an unstoppable last gasp header.

The moment you concede a goal in the 92nd minute

The Chelmsford end of the ground went wild and as the final whistle blew straight after the re-start, the scenes of celebration from the large travelling Clarets support was what the early rounds of the Cup is all about; fantastic!

“One Charlie Ruff, there’s only one Charlie Ruff…”

The Next Match

SUN 19TH MAR 23

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