Saturday's match will be the 30th meeting (27 previously in the Football League and two in the Conference) between the Imps and the Bees and there have been plenty of incidents in the previous games.
Our Conference debut was at Underhill in August 1987 when the home side won 4-2 in a stormy game. Dave Sansom converted an eighth minute penalty for the home side after a Les Hunter handball but Bobby Cumming equalised four minutes later. Almost immediately though Sansom restored the lead whilst on the stroke of half-time City keeper Nigel Batch made a hash of an attempted tackle on Nicky Evans who walked the ball into an empty net. Mick Waitt pulled a goal back for us in the 66th minute but Sansom was able to complete his hat-trick with another penalty (Hunter again the culprit with a foul on Evans) in the 85th minute to seal the win.
The return at Sincil Bank was an even stormier affair as we won 2-1. A crowd of 4,624 witnessed the Wednesday night game which saw City dominate the first half but only have Trevor Matthewson's 44th minute free-kick to show for it. The second half was only two minutes old when the game exploded with Bobby Cumming being floored by Noel Ashford who received his marching orders from referee Trevor West. On 61 minutes Jack McGinley doubled the lead from the penalty spot after Mick Waitt was fouled.
Barnet were reduced to nine men when sub Herbie Smith was shown a red card just seven minutes after coming on for a tussle with Clive Evans then shortly afterwards Matthewson, who had already been booked, and Edwin Stein decided to have a fight in front of the packed West Bank terrace. Police, representatives from both benches and anyone else about attempted to calm things down and when peace was restored no further action was taken by the ref! The City fans though were treated to the sight of Bees boss Barry Fry being marched off the pitch by a City steward! Barnet were though awarded a free kick for the incident from which Kevin Millett scored with a header to reduce the arrears but despite the nine men dominating the remainder of the game City hung on to record an important win.
Barnet eventually won promotion to the Football League in 1991/92 and our first meeting at this level saw them inflict our heaviest ever-home defeat as they won 6-0 in September 1991. Gary Bull gave the visitors the lead in the 20th minute and Frank Murphy doubled it 10 minutes later. Roger Willis (64) and Bull (69), both with deflected efforts, increased the lead before Kevin Finney mis-kicked a Kenny Lowe corner into his own net in the 70th minute for the fifth goal. Nicky Evans had a goal disallowed for offside in the 88th minute before Barnet were awarded an injury time penalty for a foul by Paul Ward on Murphy. Ward was dismissed but Bull missed the penalty. In the dying moments though Barnet scored a sixth through Evans. They completed a double with a 1-0 win on New Year's Day.
Our first win came at Sincil Bank the following season as goals from Peter Costello, Jason Lee (two although his first was originally credited as an own goal by Barnet 'keeper Gary Phillips) and Graham Bressington saw us win 4-1. The best crowd for a Football League game between us (4,422) saw a 1-1 draw at Underhill later in the season, the point being enough to confirm Barnet's promotion.
Barnet were pre-season visitors to Sincil Bank in July 1993 with the Imps winning 3-1 whilst an early kick-off on Bonfire Night 1994 was our next Football League meeting and a Russell Hoult howler helped the visitors to a 2-1 victory. Neil Matthews scored for us with Mark Cooper and Dougie Freedman (scoring in the first of three consecutive games against us) replying.
We also lost the next three meetings with a 3-1 defeat in September 1995 there proving to be manager Sam Ellis's last match in charge. Jae Martin, with his first League goal for us, scored in a 1-0 home win in September 1996 to end that run of defeats.
Just 1,194 were at Underhill in February 1997 to see Jamie Ndah score the only goal in our defeat. It is the lowest crowd for a game between us and one of seven below 2,000.
Goals from Mark Hone and Gavin Gordon gave us only our third Football League win against the London side in February 1998, the win sandwiched between the only two goalless draws we have had.
One of just eight 5-3 away defeats we have ever suffered in the Football League occurred in January 2000. Gavin Gordon gave us a 20th minute lead but Rob Sawyers, Ken Charlery and a Paul Smith own goal gave the Bees a half-time lead. Paul Miller pulled one back for us just after half-time but further goals from Warren Hackett and John Doolan made Tony Battersby's last minute penalty nothing more than a consolation.
We again scored three at Underhill the following season and lost! Gordon (with two) and Richard Peacock put us three up after 26 minutes, albeit with the advantage of the slope, before Stuart Niven pulled one back. The second half saw further goals from Warren Goodhind, Omer Riza and Tony Richards put Barnet ahead before Steve Holmes missed a last minute penalty for us.
Barnet came to Sincil Bank later in the season for a crunch relegation battle as results some early kick-offs had left us bottom of the table and Barnet in 21st place. Peter Gain and Battersby gave us a first half lead and despite Doolan pulling one back we held on. Barnet were eventually relegated after a last day defeat to Torquay.
They returned in 2005/06 and took an early lead at Sincil Bank through Giuliano Grazioli before Simon Yeo equalised. Second half goals from Jamie McCombe, Marvin Robinson and Scott Kerr earned us a comfortable win in the end. Valentines Day 2006 saw us in London and goals from Ben Strevens and Tresor Kandol seemed to have condemned us to defeat but a fight back was started by McCombe and then Gary Birch capitalised on a poor kick by Bees 'keeper Ross Flitney to equalise before Nat Brown scored an 87th minute long range winner to earn us our first win at Underhill.
The following season saw us record our first 5-0 away win since 1959 thanks to a Jamie Forrester hat-trick (including two penalties), Lee Beevers and Leon Mettam with his only goal for us. Lee Frecklington scored the only goal at Sincil Bank later in the season.
The two games against the Bees in 2007/08 were also high-scoring affairs.
A 4-1 win at Sincil Bank in December made it three wins on the spin for Peter Jackson's side. Ben Wright with two, another Forrester penalty, and one from Louis Dodds secured the victory over a Barnet side who had defender Joe O'Cearuill dismissed in the 56th minute. The return fixture at a snowy Underhill in March saw the Bees exact revenge, racing into a 5-0 lead before Wright added another brace to become the first City substitute to score more than once in a Football League game.
In September 2008, the 2-0 win over the Bees at Sincil Bank was the Imps' first win of the season with second half goals from Dany N'Guessan and one from substitute Adrian Patulea on his debut securing the three points whilst at Underhill the hosts emerged 3-2 victors. Michael O'Connor's only goal for the Imps put them in front but two John O'Flynn goals and one from Albert Adomah either side of a Patulea header saw the Bees to victory. The five goals meant that a staggering 36 had been scored in the last six matches in North London!
Last season a Janos Kovacs strike on the opening day of the campaign was enough to separate the two teams at Sincil Bank whislt the return fixture at Barnet saw City complete the 'double' thanks to a stoppage time header from Lenell John-Lewis. Cian Hughton had earlier given the Imps the lead before Ismail Yakubu had levelled.
City extended their winning run over the Bees at Sincil Bank to seven matches earlier this season when a first half penalty from Ben Hutchinson secured a first home win of the season for the City.
Adapted from an original article by Gary Parle
