Like many hoppers I got into the non league ground collecting bug soon after completing the 92. Once I had joined the club for those fans that had done the lot I started to look for another challenge (well all self-confessed obsessives love them, don’t they?). I decided at the time that I would focus my attention on the top end of the grass roots game and work downwards ticking off the clubs competing in the Football Conference or the GM Vauxhall Conference as it was called back in the late 1980’s first. Little did I know I would still be hooked some twenty plus years later! 

Indeed it was on the 16^th January 1988 that I attended my first proper non league venue with a trip to Underhill home of Barnet Football Club who were taking on Dagenham. I loved it. The tidy little ground with a bit of cover, shallow steps of terracing and sloping pitch made for a really memorable day. My tatty blue note book shows that the Bees won the match 3-2 under manager Barry Fry and Chairman Stan Flashman (what a great name, eh?).

Amazing isn’t it then that some twenty-five years later I’m back for a re-visit. Although it only seems like yesterday that I last walked up Barnet Lane a lot has happened here over the intervening years. The club has moved up the pyramid and joined the Football League. The ground decked in orange and black throughout looks familiar but is definitely much smarter than I first remembered. I will let the photos in the album gallery serve as a useful description. I’m told that there’s a new stand behind the goal. The slope is definitely still there. There’s loads of local character and quirky features which certainly beats those modern (off the-shelf) stadia that we have sadly all grown accustomed to these days.

But these are uncertain and unsettling times for the club. Within a few weeks the Bees will be leaving their home (after 106 years) to begin life some ten miles away in Edgware where a new ground at The Hive is being developed. It’s not a popular move with many fans although the purists amongst them agree that it’s necessary in order to ensure future survival in these cash-strapped times we have grown oh so familiar with.

I’m here today not only to tick off the ground (only three home games left) but also to cheer on the club in their fight to avoid relegation back down to the Conference. Picking up points has not been an easy task in recent months even under the guidance of new player manager, the enigmatic Edgar Davids, an ex-Dutch International with enormous playing pedigree, on whose diminuitive frame the club’s future hopes now rest.

With so much at stake the club is joined by the likes of Aldershot, York City, Plymouth Argyle and Accrington as the season enters the so called 'business end'. Separated by the width of a fag paper no less each takes its weekly turn to jostle for position clambering perilously close to that non league trapdoor which seemingly looms ever closer as games to improve their lot are running out. How ironic it is today that Dagenham (and Redbridge) are the visitors to Underhill. As the kick off approaches the crowd squeezes more closely together and the anxiety mounts (you can really feel it). Taking a moment I just wonder whether the Bees can beat their East London counterparts (as they did on my last visit here) to relieve the obvious pressure and take a massive step towards safety.

There are plenty of Bank Holiday fixtures being played over the weekend. Crucially the other sides in the relegation dog-fight Aldershot, Accrington and Torquay are all in action today and Bees fans are keen to learn by constant updates on their mobiles (with internet access) that only Torquay suffer defeat. With both Plymouth (at home against Exeter in the Devon derby) and York (travelling to Bristol Rovers) playing tomorrow there’s no let up for the elevated blood pressure and jangling nerves. It really is all the about survival of the fittest.

For the record today's game is unsurprisingly not a classic (so often the case on such occasions) as nerves eventually get the better of both sets of players. With few goal scoring opportunities to talk about it is the visitors who come closest to scoring when bulky, skilful front runner Medi Elito (70) provides the highlight of the game when his rasping volley struck through a group of players from outside the box (30 yards I reckon) is incredibly tipped onto the bar by Bees' keeper Graham Stack. Neither side creates anything to test their opponents in the latter stages of the game and De Silva’s red card (second bookable offence) effectively ends the contest. Barry Fuller was also shown a straight red card after the final whistle to add to the Bees woes.      

Despite the mounds of recent snow piled up alongside the perimeter fencing, the match is played on a decent surface. The fixture attracts a terrific Good Friday crowd with 3680 in attendance (the highest of the season so far). During the game I became temporary friends with a couple of regular Bees fans standing alongside me in the East Terrace stand. Both agreed that the young team had improved since the introduction of Davids and the players definitely appeared to be fitter, more focused and loyal to the cause. They were philosophical about their chances of staying up but like all passionate die-hards they will continue to support the Bees with many intending to travel to Surrey on Bank Holiday Monday for the crucial trip to AFC Wimbledon.

The ground move was inevitable knowing the lease was running out but Football League survival was more a priority with the supporters. I gathered that it is the club's new training ground and soon to be stadium after the Football League granted the club relocation permission for the 2013/14 season back in February 2013. Just days prior to this five-time World Champions Brazil visited The Hive as they prepared to take on England at Wembley. It is also a football centre for the community offering both artificial and natural grass football pitches at competitive rates. The 44 acre site is home to two full sized, floodlit, 3G pitches, each of which divides into three cross-lay pitches allowing a spacious area for smaller size games.

A range of blood-coagulating refreshments were available and cheerfully dispensed throughout the afternoon from a couple of static outlets situated both inside and outside the ground. A smart newsy programme consisting of 64 glossy pages was issued for £2. The action pictures covering their much publicised snow-affected game here last week against Cheltenham Town were an excellent piece of photo journalism. Did you see the highlights on the Football League Show? I caught them a couple of days later on the i-player (rather than sitting up ridiculously late to watch it on the Saturday night TV programme) and couldn’t believe that the game actually went ahead.