Barnet Face Herts Rivals

Barnet will face long-standing rivals Stevenage Borough in the Herfordshire Cup.

The Bees were drawn away from home in the second round of this local competition and will not need to find out the result of a first round match because like Barnet, Borough have received a bye into the second round of the competition.

Barnet won the Herts Senior Cup last season with a 4-2 victory over Hemel Hempstead FC and with the exception of Watford, who normally field a youth team in the borough’s local knock-out competition, are the only side in the Football League competing in in.

Some reports suggested Barnet would not be competing in the Cup because of the small squad Paul Fairclough has to manage with this season and would want to focus his and the players’ energies on the league and would not want this ‘minor’ competition could ruin Barnet’s chances of promotion this season, however the draw confirms Barnet’s particpation.

Fairclough may choose to give the Under-18s a run in the Cup although he stated last season that this competition was important for first-team players who were not playing regularly in the team.