Nationwide Conference
22 November 2003

By Iain Dalziel

On a wet and windy afternoon Barnet climbed to second place in the league with a 5-0 romp over Forest Green Rovers.

Barnet were without leading scorer Giuliano Grazioli and Liam Hatch through injury and Yakabu only made the bench. Yakabu’s absence gave Tony Taggart a starting place for the first time since the LDV Vans game with Brentford back in October. Peter Beadle also returned up front and Mark Williams also made his first start in three games.

With no Grazioli Forest Green must have been quietly confident of not conceding many goals. However, just like many home games this season Barnet found themselves ahead early on. Simon King made a good run down the left, and with plenty of space and time laid the ball back to Tony Taggart, just inside the ‘Rovers penalty area. Taggart, not known for goal scoring, unleashed a fabulous shot past the diving Perrin into the top corner.

The Bees fans went wild as the ex-Farnborough player celebrated his first goal in Barnet colours. Yet again the Bees had taken the lead within the first few minutes of a game at Underhill.

Following the goal Barnet relaxed a little and a misunderstanding between Maddix and Plummer nearly gave Kevin Langan a chance to equalise. Apart from that one opportunity the Gloucestershire side looked very unadventurous and didn’t look creating any real chances.

After that lapse of concentration Barnet began to look dangerous again. Beadle, who missed Tuesday’s trip to Stalybridge through injury, was looking good on his return. The ‘Rovers defence were being put under a lot of pressure and inevitably Barnet doubled their lead.

A good through ball gave Beadle a chance to score his first league goal at Underhill. The big front man did very well, beating the defender before calmly lashing his shot into the bottom corner. At 2-0 up Barnet were cruising and it didn’t look as though there was anyway back for Forest Green, the Bees went in two up at the break.

Second Half

Barnet again started the second half convincingly, with ‘Rovers immediately under pressure. Beadle and Strevens were both looking dangerous and it was only a matter of time before the third. Coming up to the hour mark, Williams received the ball out wide on the right.

The twenty two year old winger then sent in a teasing cross which was met at the back post by Bees number twelve, Peter Beadle. He brilliantly out jumped his marker and sent a looping header over ‘Rovers ‘keeper Perrin. Once again Underhill burst into mad celebration, with chants of ‘Beadles on a hat trick’ ringing around the East Terrace.

The game was now completely over as a contest, but Barnet needed more goals to get closer to Chester and Aldershot’s impressive goal differences. Luckily for the Bees a fourth was soon to follow. Following a poorly hit shot which flew over Ben Strevens needed to redeem himself.

Despite the teams good display Strevens had had a frustrating afternoon but made up for it with a superb finish. After receiving the ball twenty five yards out he ran at the Forest Green defence, he then curled the ball into the net from the edge of the area. Now at 4-0 up it just kept getting better and better for Barnet.

After the fourth Martin Allen decided to give youngster Soloman Henry a taste of the action and introduced him in the closing stages. Instantly the protec graduate was causing Forest Green trouble and after one penalty appeal turned down he won one in the final minute.

However, this was at a cost as his first home league appearance ended with home leaving the pitch on a stretcher. With no Grazioli skipper Ian Hendon stepped up to take the penalty. The captain made no mistake, driving the ball home to make it an incredible 5-0!

Shortly after the whistle blew, drawing a wonderful afternoon to a close. With news that Aldershot had held Chester to a draw and Hereford losing to Shrewsbury, as well as Exeter’s draw at Leigh RMI . All in all this was a fabulous day for the Bees, next up the long trip to Scarborough on Tuesday-possibly the day when Barnet finally go to the top!

Iain Dalziel’s Man of the Match

Peter Beadle

Match Photos

Twenty one photos of the game by Chris Holland.

Manager's Quotes

"Peter Beadle's a credit to the football club, We played up in Manchester on Tuesday and he drove up from Bristol off his own back to come and watch the game even though he wasn't fit. That's the sort of thing we've got going here with the players at Barnet.

"I was delighted that he got a brace. He led the line, he's a credit at the training ground and he's a good professional to have about."

Bookings

Barnet

I.Hendon, 65, unsporting behaviour
B.Strevens, 87, unsporting behaviour

Forest Green

S.Rogers, 25, unsporting behaviour
G.Stoker, 84, unsporting behaviour

Referee: Mcintosh, W

Teams

Barnet

S.Gore, I.Hendon, S.King, C.Plummer, M.Rooney, T.Taggart, D.Maddix (I.Yakabu 69), J.Gamble (L.Hogg 56), B.Strevens, M.Williams, P.Beadle (S.Henry 76)

Unused substitutes: G.Lopez, R.Millard

Forest Green

S.Perrin, L.Phillips, M.Foster (A.Sykes 70), R.Kennedy, S.Rogers, D.Searle, D.Ingram, J.Cant, S.Cowe, G.Stoker, N.Grayson

Unused substitutes: A.Adams, J.Moralee, L.Jones, C.Giannangelo

Other Reports

Cartoons By James
Nationwide's Conference Site

If you know of any other reports please email me the link on info@bfcsa.net

I check unofficial sites that we link to when putting these reports up and link to the equivalent report if there is one (so long as it is original). Please see our links page if you want to exchange links.

I am no longer linking to Barnet's official site's match reports. Please see here for more information.

Want to write Match Reports?

If you are interested in writing match reports for bfcsa.net then click here for more information.