It was an odd emotion switching our allegiance to Barnet FC as we really enjoyed the Cup run with Chelmsford City and even more strange having to leave the bosom of the Southern regionalised grounds and for the first time in the campaign head North.

And when I say North, I mean North to the deepest Lancashire to face the once mighty Accrington Stanley. “Who are they” I can hear those of you of a certain vintage remember the 1989 milk TV advert saying..…..“Exactly!”

With a near 200 miles trip ahead of us to the Wham Stadium, I had to set the alarm to Wake Me Up Before We Go Go and arrived in good time as you never know what to expect for parking. But no need to worry, there was a large area of spare land next to the ground with an honesty box for donations. We were told to drive over to the far end and Jim will guide us in – like we know who Jim is!

We had our tickets scanned at the entrance to the excellent clubhouse rather than the turnstiles and our squad of 3 enjoyed a nice pint inside, overlooking the pitch after the long journey.

The Wham stadium is compact and very well looked after, but disappointing to learn that the name wasn’t from a past close association with the late George Michael or the Other One, but sponsored by a local firm Wham who makes commercial plastic boxes!

We were with the Barnet supporters, of course, in the away end and although there were only around 150 who made the trip north, they (and a certain member of our squad!) made a lot of noise, making for a great cup atmosphere.

Barnet started the livelier with Adedoyin hitting the post after only a few minutes and Longelo struck inside the box to force an early fine save from the Accrington keeper.
The very windy conditions didn’t help and with Accrington coming more into the game towards the end of 45 minutes, the sides went into the break even at 0 -0.

And so off for half-time refreshments and Accrington didn’t let me down with my expectation of the first pie of the cup run. Not a burger in sight, just a choice of 3 Pies!

The only problem was Veganism hasn’t yet found its way into Accrington and so there was absolutely nothing for one of our squad and so despite the fine pie, we agreed on only 7 for fanfare due to the lack of choice.

Accrington had the benefit of the strong wind in the second half and did start to have much of the possession as you would expect from a League 1 versus National League side. Barnet defended well and we were anxiously watching the clock to force a replay maybe back at The Hive, but then on 80 minutes, the inevitable happened. A congested goalmouth scramble and Ethan Hamilton tucked away the game’s only goal to take Accrington into the 3rd Round along with a very welcome £67,000 purse as 2nd round winners.

We now turn to Stanley who goes into Sunday’s draw for the 3rd Round for only the 5th time in their history, with all the excitement of the possibility of drawing a huge club as the Premier League and Championship teams go into the hat. Will we be drawn at home with another near 400 miles round trip or a local London-based Premier League “away” tie…..exciting times!