This weekend two of the favourites for promotion from the National League face off as Rob Elliott’s Gateshead welcome Barnet to the northeast.
Both teams have an identity based around attacking, high-intensity football but the Heed have come out on top in most of their recent meetings.
In fact, the last time the Bees beat Gateshead was in April 2015 as 5200 people saw Mauro Vilhete score a brace to win Barnet the 2014/2015 Conference title.
Here is a look at Barnet’s starting 11 from that match and where they are now:
Goalkeeper: Graham Stack
One of the Bees’ best goalkeepers in the 21st century, Stack was an ever-present during the title-winning campaign. He made 45 league appearances and kept 18 clean sheets in the 2014/15 season, including this against the Heed.
The former Arsenal man was phased out of the team following Barnet’s return to the Football League which saw him move to Indian side Kerala Blasters in August 2016.
After a 3-season stint at Eastleigh Stack hung up his gloves and embarked on a coaching career which has seen him go to Cardiff City, Colchester United and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Perhaps the most notable achievement of Stack’s coaching career to date was when he acted as co-interim manager of Watford alongside Hayden Mullins in 2020.
Right-Back: Andy Yiadom
Andy Yiadom is one of the most promising young players to wear a Barnet shirt and he had a very successful career in North London before inevitably moving on to better things.
Yiadom made 177 appearances in black and amber, scoring 15 times. 41 of these came in 2014/15 as Barnet won the Conference.
Alongside making 26 appearances for Ghana, the versatile player made 233 appearances in the Championship for Barnsley and Reading.
At 32 years of age, the ex-Bee is still with the Royals as he made 34 appearances in all competitions for Ruben Selles’ side last campaign. He is yet to feature this season.
Centre-Back: David Stephens
An ever-present at the heart of defence whilst at Barnet, Stephens made 134 appearances for the Bees and won the Player of the Season award in each of his first two seasons at the club.
Following promotion, Stephens left the Bees to join their rivals Boreham Wood, a club for whom he has made 234 appearances.
Although his departure was never formally announced by the Wood, his last appearance for them came against Barnet in December 2023 as Luke Garrard’s side were thrashed six-nil at the Hive.
Centre-Back: Bondz N’Gala
Powerful centre-back Bondz N’Gala returned to Barnet ahead of the 2014/15 season after making six appearances for the Bees as a loanee two seasons prior.
The former West Ham man made 111 appearances at the Hive whilst scoring two goals. He left midway through the 2016/2017 season to join Martin Allen’s high-spending project at Eastleigh.
N’Gala became somewhat of a nomad after leaving North London, never making more than 13 appearances for a club before retiring in 2020.
Left-Back: Elliot Johnson
A modern-day Barnet legend, Elliott Johnson made 254 appearances in black and amber after coming through the Bees’ youth system.
The title-winning campaign was Johnson’s most successful in terms of appearances made. The left-back featured in 42 of Barnet’s 46 league games and scored one goal.
A player once seemingly destined to go to the very top of the English pyramid, a major injury sustained at the start of the 2017/18 season derailed Johnson’s career.
He missed the rest of the campaign as Barnet were relegated and lost the ability to storm up and down the left-hand side that had once made him a stand-out player.
After reinventing himself as a more defensive-orientated left-back who was also capable of playing at centre-back, Johnson left the Bees at the end of the Covid-disrupted 2019/20 campaign.
He joined Dagenham and Redbridge in the summer of 2020 and left after four seasons of service having made 116 appearances for the Daggers.
Johnson is now captain of Hednesford Town who play in the Northern Premier League Division One West.
Right Midfielder: Mauro Vilhete
Another modern-day Barnet legend, Vilhete came through the Barnet academy slightly earlier than Johnson but faced a much larger struggle to consistently get into the team.
The Portuguese-born man made 216 appearances in black and amber and scored 22 goals throughout his time in North London.
He will always be remembered for the brace which he scored against the Heed to secure Barnet’s promotion to the EFL, a moment which many consider the best to happen at the Hive.
Like Johnson, injuries are what spelt the beginning of the end of Vilhete’s Barnet career.
After not initially being named in the match-day squad, Vilhete was called onto the bench in a league match against Dover in late 2018 despite having an injury. Whilst he played 20 minutes off the bench and scored a goal, his injury was aggravated and his season ended.
He left the Bees at the same time as Johnson and eventually joined Dagenham and Redbridge after a short spell in regional football.
Vilhete made 66 appearances for the Daggers across three campaigns before making 13 appearances for Southend United last season in order to bolster their squad numbers during their transfer ban.
The São Tomé and Príncipe international signed for Hampton and Richmond Borough four days ago.
Central Midfielder: Sam Togwell
Gritty midfielder Sam Togwell made 97 appearances for Barnet over two-and-a-half seasons and he was yet another player to play over 40 games in the title-winning campaign.
Togwell made 143 appearances in the Championship as a youngster before joining the Bees from Chesterfield.
Like Bondz N’Gala, the defensive-minded midfielder left the Bees mid-way through the 2016/17 season to join manager Martin Allen at Eastleigh United.
After two seasons at Eastleigh, Togwell joined Slough Town where he made 90 appearances over the course of three seasons in the National League South before announcing his retirement in May 2021.
He then came out of retirement to join Beaconsfield Town in 2022 where he spent one season as a player before transitioning into being a player/coach and now an assistant manager.
Central Midfielder: Curtis Weston
The former Millwall and Leeds United man is the third player in this 11 to be a part of the 200-club. Weston made 225 Barnet appearances and netted 24 times in black and amber.
During the 2014/15 season, Weston featured in every single league game, scoring nine times in the process.
He then remained an ever-present throughout the Bees’ three-year stay in the EFL before joining Chesterfield ahead of the 2018/19 season.
Weston made 154 appearances for the Spireites before dropping down the divisions and playing for AFC Fylde and Buxton.
The 37-year-old joined Mickleover ahead of this season.
Left Midfielder: Conor Clifford
Probably the least-known name in this team, Clifford played 13 times for Barnet during the 2014/15 season after he came to North London on loan from Southend United.
The former Chelsea academy player spent 18 more months in England with Boreham Wood, where he made 66 appearances, before joining Dundalk in January 2017.
Clifford has since played for a number of Irish clubs including Derry City and St. Pat’s. He has most recently played for Lucan United.
Striker: John Akinde
John Akinde joined Barnet ahead of the 2014/15 season and it marked the start of a legendary career in black and amber.
The physical striker made 45 appearances in the title-winning campaign and scored a staggering 31 goals, winning the Player of the Season award in the process.
The former Brentford striker went on to make 175 appearances for Barnet as he hit the back of the net 88 times in total, putting him in Barnet’s top 20 scorers of all time.
Upon the Bees’ relegation from the EFL in 2018, Akinde was placed on the transfer list before moving to Lincoln City where he fired the Imps to promotion from League Two.
After less prolific spells with Gillingham and Colchester United, Akinde joined National League newcomers Braintree Town this summer.
His move to Braintree marks the first time that Akinde has been in the same league as Barnet since he left the Hive and he can be sure to get a heroes’ welcome upon his return in two weeks’ time.
Striker: Michael Gash
Although his goalscoring record is fairly average, Gash acted as the perfect foil for Akinde throughout his time in North London which has earned him something of a cult hero status at the Hive.
He only made 55 appearances and scored 13 goals for Barnet before moving to King’s Lynn Town where he formed another very fruitful strike partnership with Adam Marriott, someone else who is fondly remembered by Bees fans.
Gash signed for Peterborough Sports in June 2021 and he has been there ever since. He is currently a player/co-manager for the Turbines and has been deploying himself as a centre-back at times.
Conclusion
Not only is this team full of Barnet legends, loyal servants and cult heroes, but it is also full of players who were available for the vast majority of the 2014/15 campaign.
Dean Brennan will be hoping that his side can remain relatively injury-free for the rest of the season so that some players can begin to build Barnet legacies akin to the likes of Akinde, Vilhete and Johnson.
Although Gateshead are a high-quality side that currently sit at the top of the league the coaching staff and players alike should travel up north with the belief that they can outplay the Heed and bring what could be three vital points back to the capital.
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