Barnet FC Build Pre-Season Momentum with Back-to-Back Wins

Barnet FC Build Pre-Season Momentum with Back-to-Back Wins

Bees record comfortable victories as they prepare for 2026/27 League Two campaign

11 July 2026 | Barnet Football Club Correspondent

Barnet Football Club continued their positive pre-season preparations with a 2-0 victory over Hitchin Town on Tuesday evening, securing back-to-back wins ahead of further friendlies this week.

The Bees, now in their second season back in League Two following promotion from the National League, have been busy bolstering their squad with several new additions. Recent signings including winger Tom Knowles, centre-forward Jack Maskell, and midfield duo Brandon Comley and Charlie Lakin from Walsall have integrated well into Dean Brennan’s plans.

Tuesday’s trip to Top Field saw Bright Siaw open the scoring in the first half with a well-taken strike. A late second-half goal from a trialist sealed the victory, showcasing the depth in the squad as Brennan experiments with different combinations. The result followed an impressive 8-3 behind-closed-doors win over Southall earlier in the week, where players like Kabongo Tshimanga and Isiah Noel-Williams found the net.

Speaking after the Hitchin match, manager Dean Brennan highlighted the encouraging signs. “We’re pleased with the way the lads are applying themselves in these early pre-season games,” he commented. “We’ve brought in some quality players who are fitting in nicely, and it’s good to see goals from different areas of the pitch. There’s still plenty of work to do, but the foundations are solid.”

Barnet have been active in the transfer market this summer. In addition to the Walsall pair and Knowles on a free transfer, Jack Maskell arrived on a permanent deal from Darlington, while defender Craig Farquhar joined from Crystal Palace U21s. These arrivals complement retained key players such as Idris Kanu, Nik Tavares, and Danny Collinge, who were instrumental in last season’s near-miss on the play-offs.

The 2026/27 League Two fixtures were recently confirmed, with the campaign starting the weekend of 8 August. Barnet will face Cambridge United in the Carabao Cup first round on the same day, with a 1pm kick-off. The Bees have also been drawn in Southern Section Group F for the EFL Trophy.

Pre-season continues with the annual Spencer McCall Memorial Tournament against Hemel Hempstead Town today, followed by home friendlies against Watford (rescheduled to 14 July), Luton Town, Oxford United (as part of Community Day on 25 July), MK Dons, and Bromley. These matches will provide valuable minutes and further opportunities to fine-tune the squad.

Last season, Barnet competed strongly in League Two, narrowly missing out on the play-offs after a solid return to the Football League. The club’s ambition remains to push higher this term, with Brennan emphasising squad unity and tactical discipline as priorities.

Off the pitch, preparations include the upcoming Community Day on 25 July at The Hive, featuring family activities and a London Bees pre-season fixture. The club continues to engage with supporters through initiatives like the Equality Code of Practice survey, underscoring their commitment to inclusivity.

As the new season approaches, optimism is high among Barnet fans. The blend of experienced campaigners and exciting new talent suggests a competitive squad capable of challenging for a top-half finish or better. With fixtures against strong opposition in pre-season, Brennan will be looking to iron out any remaining issues before the competitive action begins.

The Bees are building steadily, and supporters will be eager to see how the team performs in the coming weeks as they gear up for what promises to be another exciting campaign at The Hive.

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Home of Barnet FC

Opened 2013

Capacity 6,500

History (from Wikipedia)

Barnet F.C. chairman Anthony Kleanthous had sought to move the club from its long term home at Underhill Stadium since the 1990s due to the poor facilities at the ground. Various attempts to move to Barnet Copthall athletics stadium or to the greenbelt site directly to the south of Underhill were both unsuccessful, with then deputy prime minister John Prescott over-ruling a move to Copthall in 2001 after planning permission had initially been granted.[2]

Construction of a stadium at the Harrow council-owned Prince Edward Playing Fields in Canons Park had originally begun in early 2003, specifically intended as a new home for local non-league club Wealdstone F.C. In April 2004, with the building work more than 25% completed, Wealdstone F.C.'s investment partners in the project, a private company called Stadia Investment Group, went into liquidation and this caused the construction work at the site to be brought to a sudden halt due to lack of funds to pay the builders.[3] With Wealdstone F.C. unable to afford the completion of the project on their own, there was no further progress at the site for two years.

Harrow London Borough Council then decided to put the site up for tender in 2006. Barnet F.C. bought the tender, and with it the right to occupy the site which they stated they would use purely as a training centre, and not as a new home stadium. It was a condition of the tender that the stadium must be completed by the new owners for the use of Wealdstone F.C., but this did not happen and Wealdstone F.C. received no recompense for their initial investment into the ground.[4]

Having used the surrounding site as a training centre, Barnet F.C. eventually moved completely to the stadium in summer 2013, ostensibly as a result of a disagreement with Barnet London Borough Council with regards to the lease of the land surrounding their home since 1907, Underhill Stadium,[5] as well as the limited facilities at Underhill restricting the club's income. The awarding of the Barnet Copthall site to Saracens F.C., effectively ended Barnet F.C.'s hopes of ever moving to that site, accelerating the move to the Hive further.[6]

The club originally claimed they intended the use of the stadium at the Hive to be a temporary arrangement, with the long-term aim to build a 10,000-capacity stadium back in the London Borough of Barnet. However that changed in 2015 [7] with the chairman announcing the club would no longer actively search for a home elsewhere.[8] Initially there was a restriction on the lease of the Hive that prevented its use for Football League matches, however Barnet F.C. were granted a 10-year change to this condition which came into effect in June 2015. In 2018 Kleanthous purchased the freehold for the site from the London Borough of Harrow and so this restriction no longer applies.

Things to do nearby.