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Nationwide Conference By Chris Holland It was a tale of two halves as Barnet earned a share of the spoils following a four goal second half at Cherrywood Road. Craig Pope's late equaliser snatched a draw for the visitors after Farnborough had spurned numerous opportunities to put the game out of reach. Peter Shreeves made one change from last week with Mark Gower returning from suspension to replace Toby Oshitola. Gower slotted in on the right hand side of midfield and Wayne Purser was pushed forward into attack. In the first half both teams struggled to get to grips with the heavy pitch. Farnborough shaded the early stages of the match though an early effort from Agogo was deflected just wide. As Farnborough got into their stride, a clever pass from Rocky Baptiste split the Barnet defence but Vansittart shot tamely at Danny Naisbett. Then from a corner from the right Naisbett found himself crowded out and the ball fell to Christian Lee six yards out but his effort was deflected over by Lee Pluck. The game livened up after the half hour mark, however. When he was put through, Wayne Purser's final touch deserted him, and Pennock was able to smother. Pennock was on hand a few minutes later to block an effort from Mark Gower after he found space in the area. Christian Lee then escaped with a booking when he felled Junior Agogo as the Barnet striker looked to race clear. Though it was Farnborough who created the better chances, and Naisbitt was called upon to save a downward header from Vansittart. In the dying seconds of the first half the tall striker then tantalisingly hit a cross across the face of goal. Second Half In stark contrast to the first half the second exploded into life four minutes in as Farnborough took the lead. Following a swift passing build up the ball was laid off to Pitcher who beat one man and shot from the edge of the area, the ball nestling in the bottom left hand corner of Naisbett's goal. Barnet responded well and got a deserved equaliser through 17 year-old wonder-kid, Ismail Yakubu. A short corner saw Mark Gower knock the ball across the face of the penalty area. John Doolan charging in mishit his shot, and with the Farnborough defence unable to clear, the ball fell to Yakubu who showed great composure to curl a 15-yard shot around Tony Pennock. Barnet threatened briefly but a series of defensive lapses saw the advantage handed back to Farnborough; Rocky Baptiste restoring the host's lead as he found a lot of space in the area before flicking over Naisbett. Then Lee Pluck missed the ball leaving Baptiste free. He was able to lay the ball back to Gary Butterworth who shot over when well placed. It seemed to be catching, as a few minutes later Greg Heald missed the ball, and Baptiste teed up Patterson who shot inches wide. Against the run of play Frazer Toms nearly equalised as he rounded Pennock, though the goal was well covered by two defenders who were able to clear Tom's goal bound effort. Shortly after Barnet nearly went two behind only for Lee Pluck to clear Baptiste's header at close range. The ever-dangerous Baptiste then ghosted past Heald only to find Naisbett equal to his shot. Naisbett then thwarted Ken Charlery as Vansittart's cross found the former Bee unmarked at the back post but Naisbett parried the ball to safety. Five minutes from time Farnborough were made to pay for not killing the game. From a corner Mark Gower spotted super-sub Craig Pope's late run and the Barnet defender buried his header past Pennock. In a fiery end to the match Barnet had two penalty appeals turned down and Gower's cheeky flick found Ben Wiper who was crowded out. Though Geoff Pitcher also nearly nicked it for Farnborough, both sides in the end had to settle for a point. The record books will show that this game will be remembered for Ismail Yakubu and Craig Pope scoring their first goals for Barnet and for Ben Wiper's debut. Though the home fans will probably remember this game as an opportunity to do the double over Barnet missed. After spending large portions of the second half under the cosh this should be seen as a point gained, though against a side yet to register their first league win in 2003 perhaps Barnet should have been able to claim all three. Thanks To confguider Farney Rubble for his description of the first Farnborough goal :-) Man of the Match Lee Flynn. Pope or Wiper? By John Snow, Website Editor (and useless at table football, see 'The Conference' website's report, below...) There was some confusion over the scorer of Barnet's second goal. Everyone is certain it was Craig Pope, scoring his first goal for Barnet. Everyone that is, except for the Press Association from whom most websites and news agencies derive their stats. Most such sites claim it was Ben Wiper, making his second appearance as a sub for the senior team, that scored the goal. I was there. I thought it was Pope who scored. Although I initially went along with the usual sources I have now amended the scorer to Pope - as indeed it should have been all along.
Click here to see the original photo in full size. There are more photos of the game here - the site belongs to a photographic company who sponsor one of Farnborough's players. Bookings Barnet J.Soloman, 73,
unsporting behaviour Farnborough T.Taggart, 25,
unsporting behaviour Teams Barnet D.Naisbitt, , G.Heald, I.Yakabu, L.Pluck, J.Doolan, M.Gower, L.Flynn, J.Soloman (C.Pope - 80), F.Toms, J.Agogo, W.Purser (B.Wiper - 70) Unused Subs: L.Baimass, Williams, R.Millard Farnborough T.Pennock, D.Annon, T.Taggart, G.Patterson, G.Butterworth, L.Piper, S.Reeks, G.Pitcher, C.Lee (C.Piper - 45), J.Vansittart (K.Charlery - 54), R.Baptiste Unused Subs: P.Harkness, M.Osborn, D.Green Other Reports BBC Farnborough's official site hasn't been updated for ages - it has a New Year's message from Graham Westley! There is an unofficial site in our links page but the match report isn't accessible directly so I'll not bother linking to the site from here. I am no longer linking to Barnet's official site's match reports. Please see here for more information. |
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This photo does seem to prove it
was Pope, regardless of what the official sources say.
Pope's number is 20, whilst Wiper's is 24. That certainly
looks more like a 20 than a 24.