Barnet 0-0 Chester City
Barnet recorded their fourth draw on the trot but in turn ended the league leaders' run of six wins, as a scrappy encounter at Underhill ended goalless.
Few would have predicted the scoreline prior to the game, which featured the Conference's two leading scorers in Giuliano Grazioli and Daryl Clare but chances were premium and the few that did arrive fell foul of some wasteful finishing.
A feisty opening half saw little by way of quality as the two teams struggled to cope with the swirling wind, while a succession of stoppages did little to improve the flow.
Chester had the first strike on goal, but Alex Smith's shot from distance flew high and wide. Ben Strevens then threatened for Barnet, racing down the right before feeding Grazioli who, from the edge of the box, had his low shot deflected wide.
The standard of football early on belied the team's lofty league positions - fouls rather than shots were the order of the day.
After seeing Barnet's two efforts from the edge of the area blocked, the visitors broke swiftly through Darryn Stamp on 37 minutes.
The striker beat three players and set up substitute Chris Lane, who duly rifled in the finish but it was ruled out for offside.
Ismail Yakabu then fired wide for the hosts before the half's best chance fell in injury time to Stamp, whose miscue was indicative of much of the play.
Shortly after, Smith fizzed a left-sided centre across the face of goal, but from Danny Williams' lay-off Stamp fluffed his effort well wide.
Barnet got a slice of goal early in the second goal when, from Ian Hendon's near-post cross, the waiting Grazioli volleyed narrowly wide.
Then Hendon's free-kick only struck the defensive wall where Liam Hatch was waiting, but his weak effort was comfortably collected by the keeper.
As the game progressed, Barnet began to play the majority of the pressure, though Chester fashioned the clearest chance on 66 minutes.
Lane found Clare in acres of space inside the Barnet area, but despite taking an age to line up his shot, the forward fired well wide.
Strevens then let rip from 25 yards and was unfortunate to see his sweet strike fly over.
Minutes later, the midfielder burst into the area and only a superb low save by Iain Turner prevented what would have been the winning goal.
As the game belatedly sprung to life, Clare seemed poised to get on the end of a measured throughball for the visitors, but the alert keeper, Ademola Bankole arrived at the ball first, picking up a knock for his troubles.
It was then Danny Maddix's turn to frustrate Chester with a brave last-ditch tackle to deny substitute Michael Twiss, who dragged a shot wide ten minutes later.
We've met before
We look at previous encounters between Barnet and Chester City as the two sides meet each other at Underhill on Saturday
Chester City 1-0 Barnet
November 15th, 2003
Nationwide Conference
Chester came out of this top of the table clash with three more valuable points after another dominant performance against third placed Barnet.
Chester dominated the first half completely, with numerous attacks coming from the left flank. Alex Smith, who was making his home debut for the Blues, was in inspirational form providing creativity in the midfield.
But the game erupted into life two minutes before the interval when Shaun Carey's late challenge on Simon King cause a melee that involved almost every player.
As calm was restored Carey found himself yellow carded and Barnet's resulting free-kick ricocheted of the wall.
This incident sparked the home supporters into life and the Blues began to push further forward in the dying stages of the first half.
The home supporters did not have to wait much longer for a goal to come. Man of the match Smith scored a sensational goal from over 30 yards out that even David Beckham would have been proud of.
He got hold of a pass from Ben Davies, turned and shot left-footed floating the ball into the top left-hand corner of the goal.
Shell-shocked Barnet never recovered in the second half and the Blues almost doubled their advantage in the 56th minute.
A Kevin McIntyre corner found Darryn Stamp unmarked but he headed straight at the goalkeeper from close range.
Barnet nearly scored an equaliser in the 76th minute with a rare attack when substitute Lee Roach found himself with a great opportunity inside the box.
However, he only managed to shoot narrowly wide of the left post when he should have done much better.
Barnet continued to push forward in an attempt to equalise with a number of attacks and corners but they were unable to break down a resolute Chester defence that cleared the danger with ease.
Chester 0-1 Barnet
18th Janurary, 2003
Nationwide Conference
A determined rearguard action by Barnet saw them hang on for a share of the spoils in the televised clash at the Deva Stadium.
Relentless second-half pressure saw Chester recover from the worst possible start after falling behind with only four minutes on the clock.
A dangerous inswinging corner was met by Neil Midgley whose effort could only be parried by keeper Wayne Brown, allowing captain Greg Heald to poke home from close range.
The goal clearly knocked Chester for six and they struggled to find any rhythm early on with Barnet looking the more lively.
But in the 23rd minute the home side finally found their feet with two chances in quick succession. First Ryan Sugden saw his shot deflected inches past the post, and then Jimmy Kelly stung the hands of keeper Daniel Naisbitt from 20 yards out.
Chester took the initiative after the break and Sudgen tested Naisbitt with a long range effort early on.
However, from a quick break Barnet almost doubled their lead in the 55th minute as Wayne Purser broke clear only for his effort to find the side netting.
Barnet defended well in numbers but were almost undone in the 66th minute when a neat turn and pass by Daryl Clare sent Sugden clear, but the strikes shot from a difficult angle flew across the face of goal.
The Chester faithful were growing increasingly frustrated at their side’s inability to carve out decent opportunities, but they need not have worried as Chester drew level in the 71st minute through Clare.
Ben Davies crossed from the right flank and Clare saw his first effort parried by Naisbitt, but swept the rebound home.
The goal spurred the home side on and keeper Naisbitt produced two blinding saves in quick succession to deny a Scott Guyett header and a Kelly volley.
In added time substitute Adam Griffin was unlucky as his shot cannoned off the post and away to safety.
Barnet 0-3 Chester City
August 24th,2002
Nationwide Conference
Barnet fielded an unchanged side from the one that beat Yeovil in midweek.
They were without half a dozen of their squad players and were up against a strong City team, managed by the former Liverpool star Mark Wright.
The game opened brightly for Chester who were playing down the Barnet slope. Ryan Sugden had a 15-yard shot blocked by keeper Lee Harrison and moments later man of the match Kevin McIntyre had a left-footed drive intercepted by Harrison at the edge of the box.
For Barnet, Mark Gower had a shot on goal but Lee Woodyatt turned it for a corner.
After 33 mins, Barnet suffered a further injury blow when the former Arsenal player David Hillier was injured and he was replaced by Ishmail Yakabu.
In the second half, Leon Bell the Barnet midfielder was sent off for an over the top tackle on McIntyre.
This opened the way for Chester to push forward and it was no surprise when a Twiss cross was met by David Cameron and keeper Harrison could only get a foot to the ball to give Sugden an open goal from ten yards.
Manager Peter Shreeves had to gamble at this stage, he brought on two substitutes and pushed players forward to get an equalizer.
Unfortunately for the Bees in the 87th minute Scott Guyett put through an excellent pass for Twiss to score.
In the 90th minute substitute Mark Beesley scored from five yards from McIntyre's pass