Barnet are still in the FA Cup. Indeed this season, which started in such an appalling fashion (hovering near the bottom) has suddenly perked up wonderfully for my team. Midtable ignominy seemed out of our grasp in October, but the middle of League Two is so tight that we are unbelievably only four points away from the play-off zone (in fourteenth). Things can still go tits up, but since I still think promotion is beyond us, a little flirtation in the FA Cup is a lovely bonus.
We stayed in by beating Colchester, which doesn’t sound like giant killing of any sort until you realise that Colchester are themselves in the play-off zone in the Championship. So there but for the grace of a season, it could have been real actual giant killing thanks very much. And was hoping obviously for a big televised pay-day of a round 4. Instead what did we get? The scraps off the table of a dull League One draw: Plymouth Argyle or Portsmouth. For thought upon which I go to my seasoned footballing commentator all the way from New York:
“The mere mention of the word Peterborough, or Posh as they like to label themselves is enough to make the hairs on the back of my neck rise. Boasting a Pizza Express and a Yates Wine Lodge does not qualify a town to be called Posh. And certainly being run by Barry Fry and supported by hordes of Burberry devotees does nothing to enhance that claim.
But then what does one make of Plymouth, a poor man’s Portsmouth and a place that I am almost certain never to visit? Two no mark clubs who don’t even have the common decency to settle affairs at the first time of asking and instead subject us all to the painful process of a replay and yet more wasted newspaper words. If the FA had any mettle at all it would expel them both from the Cup for just generally wasting our time.”
I tend to agree with this, bearing in mind that whoever wins this game still leaves Barnet the underdogs. And let’s not forget we have a score to settle with Barry Fry’s Peterborough, who beat his old club Barnet 1-9 at Underhill in 1999 ON MY BIRTHDAY. So there is a little bit of romance potentially in this clash. But its just nice to have a bit of fun in the cup for a change, without having to concentrate on the league!