In the first fixture of the new 24/25 London Unity League season Barnes travelled East to face a Stonewall Development XI who always prove a tough opponent.
With a new look management duo of Dan Bugler and Jake Cooper alongside Joe Young taking on the captaincy, as members of the squad last season, there was still plenty of familiarity about the Stormers set up. Barnes started the brightest, playing some lovely football and Filipe looking particularly dangerous on the left with his Salah-like speed and left foot.
The dominance soon showed, with Barnes opening the scoring through Mitch (assisted by EJ Sanderson in midfield). Mitch was a very welcome face back in the team up front and it proved to be his day. Stonewall continued to struggle to manage Filipe to the point of trying to kick him out of the game before Mitch got a well deserved 2nd before half time.
Stonewall came back into things in the 2nd half with some dangerous breaks but failed to find a good enough final ball or the composure to make the most of any possession they had.
Matt Reynolds was also superb in the Barnes goal, quick off his line to snuff out any danger as well as getting Barnes storming back up the pitch with pin point aerial passes deep into Stonewall’s half.
Captain Joe Young marshalled the Barnes’ defence well from centre back despite a fair bit of chopping and changing off the bench down to injuries and fitness. Debutant Hillsy had a fantastic first game, proving solid at both right back and centre back whilst being thankful for rolling subs after being hooked before he could do any damage to their No.9 and 14 with his sizable forehead.
Brian Lui was Mr. Reliable as ever at left back, backed up well by Young Senior when rotating from the bench. Johnson and Jake Cooper made up for their lack of natural speed, shall we say, with excellent positioning and a penchant for a tough tackle.
The game was played in a good spirit, and you’d hope it was down to Barnes’ superiority and speed on the ball rather than anything malicious, but some of Stonewall’s tackles were later than most London buses.
The referee had said he’d let things go, which he did to a point aside from the occasional random decision popping out of nowhere.
There was disbelief from the team and bench when Jacko, challenging for a ball with his head in midfield had a full boot to the face, to the point where the referee told him to leave the pitch as he was bleeding and yet didn't yellow card the offender. Post match it has to be said Jacko’s nose did not look too pretty, let’s just hope his new wife still finds him as attractive as she did a few weeks ago!
Through a combination of Jacko, George, Ethan and Dan Mc, Barnes’ midfield were dominant across the game and it wasn’t long before a 3rd and 4th goal came along with George bagging one from a Mitch assist before Mitch himself completed his hat-trick. He wasn’t finished there though, getting his 4th and Barnes’ 5th after one of Reynold’s pin-point pumped passes referenced earlier was knocked on and finished perfectly by the star striker.
Unfortunately, Reynolds couldn’t claim an assist, always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
Despite the four goals from Mitch, it was a real toss up for POTM as Filipe had continued to torment the Stonewall defence all through the 2nd half, finally getting his much deserved goal after some wonderful play down the left. Relative newcomer Nini was equally troublesome down the right alongside stalwart right sided Henry Maloney. They both caused problems consistently for Stonewall through Nini’s tricks, control and immensely long throws (when legal) and Henry’s excellent dead ball delivery from corners and general play.
Joint Manager Jake Cooper said; “Absolutely delighted with this result, I couldn’t have asked for more from my first game in charge. It was a real team performance and every single player contributed.” His management partner Dan Bugler added “Considering half the team were out until 3am and I haven’t slept, we were fantastic. More of the same please!”
New captain Joe Young had the final word: “I would say how proud I am to be captain and how pleased I was with the result, as well as how excited I am for the season ahead. But I won’t, because I’m not a soppy c**t.”
Next up for Barnes in the LUL is another tough away game at Soho Tigers on the 27th of October up at the famous Hackney Marshes.
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