Opening their Athenian League season in brilliant style against Barnet at Claremont Road on Saturday, Golders Green led by 5-1 at the interval, and after the change of ends they increased this to a 6-1 lead. Then the Green became over-confident while visibly tiring, and of the ten goals scored in the match, Barnet netted three in the last seven minutes, reducing the winning margin to 6-4.

It was a disappointing end for Golders Green in spite of their victory, but they could have held a bigger lead if more attention had been paid to defence in the second half. They could have afforded to do this rather than go on trying to pile up the goal score.

Both sides were below strength, Lovell playing for the League at Wealdstone, where Barnet's left wing, Kelleher and Finch, were also engaged, and Barnet were also without Macfarlane, their centre-forward. Ward deputised for Lovell and gave a good display in the first half, though he showed not enough power after the change of ends when the Green began to tire. Lovell was certainly missed.

A. Wright, the Green's new centre-forward, promises well, although he did miss a couple of sparkling opportunities. Fred Boston was partnering his brother at back and gave a pleasing display, with hefty kicking and a quick recovery. At times he was rather far up the field, but generally covered any danger in this respect by his speed. Owen took his place at outside-left and gave a good performance, while Evans played with nice style at inside-left. Bucci was the surprise packet. The longer he plays the better he gets, and on Saturday he presented quite a problem to the Barnet attack and defence. The only criticism was that he might have been more of a defending half-back than a spur to the attack in the second half. On the other hand, Graves was better than he was towards the end of last season, and Bucci also knew he had Fred Boston behind him.

Ellison, who, like Bucci, scored two of Golders Green's six, was an unflagging worker throughout the game, and Breagan was so consistently dangerous that Barnet watched him super-carefully in the second half.

Neither goalkeeper seemed quite up to form, but for Barlow it must be remembered that he received a severe arm injury at the end of last season. Kimber, of Barnet, was deputising for R.S. Eldrett, whose marriage was on Saturday. Faircloth took the place of Finch on the left wing, and A. Hawkes was inside to him, while C. Hawkins filled the centre-forward position.

Winning the toss, Golders Green took the advantage of wind and sun. They attacked at once, but following a missed connection by Breagan, Barnet pushed through on the left, only to finish with a weak shot by Faircloth. Graves took the ball well down the field and pushed it out to Owen, whose work led to an opening for Evans, but his shot went wide.

Golders Green opened the scoring five minutes after the start. Evans slipped the ball out to Owen, who sent in a grand shot which struck the crossbar, the ball bouncing to Breagan, who shot to the centre of the goalmouth, Wright pushing the ball in to give the Green their lead.

Bucci added a second for the Green within a few minutes, but almost at once Gerrans scored Barnet's only first-half goal, converting a free-kick by Jordan.

Barnet were a hard-kicking team, but were unsteadied by the Green's early shock tactics, and three minutes later Evans netted with a fine drive from the left. Though it was so far Golders Green's game entirely, Barnet had their moments of attack, but Graves was very steady in breaking up movements almost before they developed, while Bucci's facility for being everywhere with just the right touch was always disconcerting to the visitors. The brothers Boston were also sound.

Breagan's work led to Golders Green's fourth goal. He forced a corner, placed the ball beautifully from the corner kick and Bucci netted, making the score 4-1 in half an hour. Another goal nearly came when Owen shot straight to Kimber's arms from two yards out. Wright also failed with a shot, and Graves tried unsuccessfully to drive the ball through. Then came Ellison's first goal, neatly scored after one of Breagan's perfect centres. Kimber got to the ball, but could only push it up into the top of the net.

Barnet almost deserved another in the first half when Jordan took up a pass from Gerrans and sent in a grand shot, but the ball swerved wide of the post. Close on half-time Golders Green gained two corners, from the second of which Ward shot behind the net, and the interval arrived with Golders Green leading by 5-1.

Upon the restart Faircloth broke away and looked dangerous, but W. Boston saved the situation at the expense of a corner. Soon afterwards Faircloth missed the mark when Gerrans served him well. At the other end Owen took up a forward pass from Bucci and engineered an opening for Wright, but offside stopped the attack.

Very soon, however, the Green had their sixth goal, Breagan placing a lovely centre for Ellison to net, after the pair had given a striking exhibition of teamwork with some excellent short passing.

Barnet now marked Breagan and Ellison more efficiently, and were paying close attention to Bucci, too, but fresh danger came to them from the left wing, and Kimber did well to hold a first-timer from Owen, who was working well with Evans. Once Ellison got clear away with the ball, but Kimber came out and put him off as he shot.

Play was becoming more even, but it was not until they were awarded a penalty that Barnet really got into scoring trim. The ball was actually in the home net when the whistle went for hands by W. Boston. The spot-kick was taken by Jordan, who never misses a penalty, and he crashed the ball low down into the net. This put fresh spirit into the visitors, and the last two goals came quickly, one from Jordan off Gerrans, and another from C. Hawkins, who converted a corner kick by Jordan. Golders Green made a final bid to widen the margin, and had Lovell been there they might have done it, but a good sporting game ended with the score 6-4.