Barnet's bubble bursts against West Ham , as the Bees fail to iron out their defensive frailties.

On a grey Saturday morning FCBFCSA slumped to another heavy defeat, on the famous pitches at Wanstead Flats.

It was a much changed Barnet side that took the field after their loss at the hands of Shrewsbury last week. Barnet had to reshuffle missing key players Clark, Manzi, Minton, Taylor, Sav Alavi, and Richards. However it gave other players the opportunity of a match, and the chance to make a name for themselves.

Ward and Moruzzi were welcomed into the side to make their full Barnet debuts, and evergreen Silvio Gradoni slotted into an unfamiliar central defensive role alongside Currell.

It was a fascinating first half for us watching from the touchline, full of incident with West Ham starting strongly, and Barnet finishing the half seemingly in the ascendancy.

It was a nervy start for Barnet, as the defence took time to settle. John Carpenter was continually exposed at right back having to pick up two men.

After only three minutes play Gradoni caught the ball , as last defender when West Ham played a through ball that had him beaten. As Barnet's players looked at each other incredulously, West Ham were effing and blinding.

The referee whistled loudly, and we thought we would be down to ten men, with the game in its infancy. The referee, pointed to his linesman - West Ham's nemesis Robin Goldman, who signalled offside and a free kick to Barnet was awarded.  Signor Calmo,acted that he had known all along that it was offside, but later admitted at half time that he didnt have a clue.

On about the quarter hour mark, Gerry Currell uncharacteristically fouled the West Ham number 10. It wasn't malicious just very late. Instantly Currell looked up, and noticed it was the hard man of the West Ham side ~Batters~. He instantly apologised, and the situation was smoothed over.

Currell, organised his defence, and things improved as the half went on. Gradoni handed the ball outside the box, well the ball bounced up and hit him. With David Kirby in goal plucking balls from mid-air, over masses of West Ham bodies, Barnet's defensive confidence grew.

Barnet should have had two penalties in the first half. Carl Swain was upended in the penalty area. The referee from the corresponding fixture last year was watching from the touchlines, and said that he would have given the penalty. There was also a seemingly blatant handball in the box. Bizarely - and seemingly good naturedly - Patrick Nally's shirt was grabbed by the referee as he vehemently protested.

Carl Swain sured up the Barnet midfield, and Nally battled hard. Ramos, and Moruzzi on the wings worked tirelessly and proved a constant menace. The West Ham defence shouted out that they were being left "naked."

Clayton also came close twice as Barnet laid siege to the West Ham goal.

At half time we fancied our chances. Things were looking good at 0-0. While it wasn't our best performance, we were working hard, and for each other, and this was much better than against Shrewsbury.

Then came the second half. It proved the absolute negative image of the home game against West Ham. West Ham rallied, and scored two early goals. The first a mistake by Carpenter, let West Ham in , and the second took a deflection.

Barnet pulled a goal back from Moruzzi, in a lovely worked move. The best goal of the match.

However Barnet conceded a third soon afterwards, and completely lost their shape defensively, as West Ham upped the tempo. There was nothing we could do defensively to change the situation. West Ham's left winger in the second half Camillo ended up with a hat-trick and was presented with the matchball after the game.

It was 5-1 down with twenty minutes to go, and the decision was taken to withdraw Fenton, who was unbelievably playing with a broken toe. What a star, Tony deserves a lot of credit for that and I am full of respect for playing through the pain barrier.

On came Goldman, who worked well with Ramos, on the right to try to gain some respectability to the scoreline. However West Ham's sixth came with 8 minutes left on the clock when an exposed David Kirby brought down the West Ham forward, as blatantly as Swain had been fouled in the first half.

This time the penalty was given, taken, and calmly slotted away. 6-1.

With nothing to lose, the manager decided to give himself a run out, for Ramos. and was instantly involving in creating a move on the left wing

A positive to come out of the game was that it was played in good spirit and good humour, and there was none of the aggrevation that marred our previous two excursions.

The comical subplot to the game was the ~Batters~ show. The West Ham number 10 was a larger than life character that was talking throughout the game, bemoaning his own fortune, shouting at his own players particularly the Bette Midler lookalike on the right wing. I bet he doesn't like being substituted either.

He started singing the Blazing squad song Crossroads in homage to Niall Ward, who he thought looked like Kenzie.

West Ham fielded doppelgangers for Darren Currie, and Tony Yeboah in their team, though it was unusual to see Tony Yeboah at left back in the second half. Yeboah, actually thought i was West Ham manager, and greeted me with "Hello Boss". He almost put on the orange shirt i handed him ! Maybe he got me muddled up with Alan Curbishley. At least Curbishley wins the odd game......

Thanks to Gary, a stalwart of the West Ham team for organising the game. West Ham are good friends to BFCSA and we always enjoy facing them. We look forward to playing them home and away next season.

We mentioned that Joel is a West Ham fan as well as a Barnet fan, and a loan deal is being arranged so Joel gets the opportunity to wear the claret and blue when FCBFCSA do not get a game. Joel impressed as ever, and as the youngest member of the FCBFCSA side, he is on course to play the most games for FCBFCSA. He can look forward to at least another twenty seasons in the team !

mom Carl Swain 

Barnet lined up

Kirby,

Carpenter

Ward,

Gradoni,

Currell,

Ramos, (Hunt 87m)

Nally,

Swain,

Moruzzi

Fenton (Goldman 70m),

Clayton.

Sub not used Salinger