 Five wins in the following six league matches saw the club begin 1999 firmly placed in the automatic promotion places.A spell of just one win from a spell of seven league matches in January and February saw Noades reach for the chequebook again and sign forward Scott Partridge from Torquay United for £100,000.With the purchase of new captain Paul Evans and buoyed by the goalscoring of Partridge and Owusu, the Bees went undefeated from late February through to early May and secured automatic promotion back to the Second Division with two matches to spare after a 3–0 victory over Exeter City.