A stunning late Jake Cole penalty save rescued a point for Barnet at Underhill last night in an entertaining 1-1 draw with League Two leaders, Bournemouth and maintained the Bees’ unbeaten home record in the league this season.
Manager, Ian Hendon gave debuts to two of the three recent loan signings. 18 year old, centre back, from Tottenham, Calum Butcher came in for Daniel Leach to partner Ismail Yakubu at the centre of the defence and Paul Furlong was rested up front to allow Craig McAllister, on loan from Exeter City, to start his first game for the Bees. Albert Adomah was preferred to Yannick Bolasie on the right, while Dean Sinclair, the third loan signing went down with flu and missed out on the chance to make his first Barnet start since moving to Charlton in 2007.
Barnet started brightly with John O’Flynn combining well with McAllister. The former Stevenage and Woking striker then headed a cross into the penalty box towards O’Flynn but the Bournemouth defence managed to clear. Albert Jarrett then sent over a superb cross which O’Flynn, who seemed set to head it at the Cherries goal, missed and Adomah, behind him, was only able to head it over the bar. Soon after, a jinking Jarrett run ended with a shot that the Bournemouth keeper, Jalal, saved.
Bournemouth were under a lot of pressure at this point and their attack was rarely seen as Barnet started producing some of their best football this season. Mark Hughes headed just over the bar. Liam Feeney put over a tempting cross for the Cherries but it flew across the face of the goal.
On 15 minutes with barnet piling on the pressure and Micah Hyde released O’Flynn into the penalty area and eventually, with the visitors’ defence all at sea, O’FLYNN managed to fire a shot through a mass of bodies. The defenders cleared the ball but the referee, Kevin Wright, helped by the linesman, awarded a goal, the ball having been deemed to have crossed the line. Mr Wright was then engulfed by protesting Bournemouth players and it was a little surprising, given their vehemence that no yellow cards were handed out. However, the goal stood and Barnet were 1-0 up after two consecutive goalless home draws.
Shortly after, O’Flynn had a golden opportunity to put the Bees two goals up after being played in by a gorgeous through ball by Micah Hyde. However, the Irishman dragged his shot wide when he really should have scored. Albert Jarrett also came close with a fine cross cum shot that was cleared off of the line. Jarrett was having a fine game and causing the Bournemouth defence all sorts of problems. O’Flynn then had another chance when put through but his shot was saved by Jalal as the Bees continued to create a number of chances with some fine flowing football.
Mark Hughes the went into the referee’s book for a clumsy challenge before the Bees squandered another chance after some good play between McAllister, O’Flynn and Adomah ended with Adomah shooting over the bar.
It became worrying that the Bees would be made to pay for wasting so many chances and that is exactly what happened on 43 minutes when a clearance on the edge of the home penalty area fell to Bournemouth’s leading scorer, Brett Pitman and he hit a superb volley into the far corner of the net with Jake Cole having no chance at all.
After dominating the whole of the first half and producing possibly their best 45 minutes of the season, it was hard on the Bees to go in only level at half time and the visitors must have been mightily relieved not to have been two or even three goals down.
HT: Bees 1 Cherries 1
Bournemouth started the second half much more brightly and a long cross beat Cole and had to be cleared off of the line as the visitors came much more into the match after the re-start. However, Barnet were also able to break out and create opportunities and a Kenny Gillet cross was headed wide by Adomah.
Adomah had a much better chance a few minutes later after Jarrett found him with a superb crossfield pass, but Adomah’s touch was far too heavy and the chance was lost. Bournemouth continued to improve though and Cole did well to save from a fine Pitman volley. Pitman was looking impressive and was causing the Bees’ defence a lot of problems, though young Calum Butcher impressed in his first ever league game.
Soon after, McAllister, who had a very good debut for the Bees, was replaced by Paul Furlong. Jake Cole produced a fine tip over save from Lee Bradbury’s shot from outside the area. Jake Hyde replaced O’Flynn for the Bees before within just over 15 minutes to go, the visitors were awarded a penalty. Ahmed Deen dithered badly on the edge of the penalty area and played a woeful back pass to Cole which was easily snapped up by Pitman. Cole was left with no option but to bring him down and was booked. However, Cole produced a magnificent save to foil Pitman’s spot kick leaving the scores level and a mightily relieved Ahmed Deen.
In the end, both teams had to settle for a point, Barnet’s third successive home draw and despite a poor run of only three points in the last five league games, the club are only three points off of the play offs and remain in 11th place. Rochdale’s 3-0 win at Bradford means that the Cherries slip to 2nd in the table.
All-in-all, a much improved performance by the Bees, who were by far the best team in the first half, though Bournemouth were the best side after the break. Manager, Ian Hendon will have been impressed with the performance, though Adomah’s drop in form continues to be a worry. Now the team needs to reproduce this sort of form in Saturday’s away match at Bury and put an end to Barnet’s dreadful away run in the league.
Barnet Mad, Bees’ Man of the Match: Jake Cole.
FT: Bees 1 Cherries 1
Barnet: Cole; Deen, Yakubu, Butcher, Gillet; Adomah, Hughes, M Hyde, Jarrett; McAllister (Furlong 61), O’Flynn (J Hyde 61).
Bournemouth: Jalal; Bradbury, Pearce, Cummings, Garry; Igoe, Robinson, Hollands, Feeney (McQuiod 89); Connell (Fletcher 46), Pitman.
Att: 2030.