| Homepage > 0405 > Fixtures | |||||||||||
Nationwide Conference By Reckless 92 minutes were up on my watch as Darren Stride grabbed a late equaliser for battling Burton Albion at Eton Park against a Barnet side minus four first team regulars including main strikers Giuliano Grazioli and Liam Hatch. The exciting young prospect, Lee Roache was given the responsibility of leading the line alongside Ben Strevens and he put in a fine performance that would have left Paul Fairclough very satisfied. Other forced changes saw Anthony Charles make his second start of the season in defence replacing the injured Ismail Yakubu and Damian Batt getting the nod over a not 100% fit Dwane Lee in midfield who dropped to the substitutes bench. After a nervy start and three Burton corners, the confidence began to flow as the Bees started to pass the ball through midfield and give Richard Graham plenty of opportunities down the left. Roache's pace was also used to great effect as Barnet took control of the game. Midway through the half a Andy Ducros effort was comfortably saved by Scott Tynan while two minutes later at the other end a Damian Batt goalbound header from a Simon Clist corner was hacked away. Nicky Bailey's skilful lob was then deflected for a corner and it seemed only a matter of time until the Bees took the lead. After a comfortable catch by Tynan the ball was quickly released and from the breakaway Barnet forced yet another corner. Clist again whipped the ball in to find Roache at the far post who guided it home. A pleasing half of football was made to look even rosier as the tannoy announced that Scarborough had a first half lead over Carlisle at the McCain Stadium. Second Half Into the second half - An early chance for Roache went begging after some good work by the tireless Bailey but Albion began to get back into the game as a Webster freekick just cleared the bar and a Dudley shot flicked the top of the net. Barnet replied quickly with two efforts on goal. The first a rasping 20 yard drive from Bailey which thumped against the far post and away to safety and the second a Ben Strevens chance which went wide after a clever run in behind the defence. Five minutes were left when Damian Batt's shot skimmed the crossbar with Brewers keeper Daniel Crane a spectator. News then filtered through to the terraces that Carlisle had equalised at Scarborough late in the game, could we hold on? The fourth official held up the board showing 4 minutes of added time which on reflection was probably accurate as both physios had been summoned on during the second half - Lisa the Bees physio was called upon twice, to treat Tynan and Batt. As the hundreds of Bees fans pleaded for the final whistle a long throw from Webster was not dealt with by the Barnet defence and the ball fell to Stride just inside the box who fired the ball into the corner of the net. I thought Scott Tynan got a hand to it maybe you know better! There was hardly time to restart the match as the whistle blew for full time. On the balance of play was this a fair result? Probably not as it is true that during certain spells in the game the gulf in class was clearly evident but you have to take your chances to win any match and the Bees missed opportunities. What is certain is that the players will be very disappointed not to have held on for the win. As I write the team is still 17 points clear at the top of the table and have to deal with a testing series of games in February hopefully with a fully fit squad available to PF. From our opponents point of view the draw eased their pressure and gave them a nine point cushion above the relegation zone. Quotes from the Manager "It was another outstanding performance from the team. We dominated every area of the pitch. An away point is good. It was just cruel that we didn't get all three points that we deserved." Match Photos
Thirty-one photos of the game by Chris Holland. Bookings Barnet Batt Burton Albion Stride Ref: C Harwood (Manchester) Teams Barnet Tynan, Hendon, Clist, Charles, Bailey, King, Batt, Graham, Sinclair, Strevens, Roache Subs Not Used: Gore, Lee, Lopez, Champion, McBean Burton Albion Crane, Webster, Austin, Miller, Corbett, Hall, Ducros (Kirkwood 90), Stride, Dudley, Shaw, Robins (Anderson 66) Subs Not Used: Ayres, Clough, Robinson Match Stats Possession: Shots: Corners: Fouls: Bookings: Other Reports Barnet Times Report Links supplied by Brian Mackie. If you know of any reports please email me the link on jsnow@bfcsa.net Want to write Match Reports? If you are interested in writing match reports for bfcsa.net then click here for more information. |
|||||||||||
| Homepage > 0405 > Fixtures > Back To Top |
