Barnet’s bright start to the new season hit the rails at Underhill on Saturday with a clear 3-1 home defeat at the hands of a very impressive Port Vale side. Bees’ manager Lawrie Sanchez kept faith with the side that won 1-0 atPortsmouth in midweek which meant that Sam Deering had to settle for a place on the bench.
Barnet started quite brightly with the side passing the ball around well but there was not a lot of penetration and the midfield looked to lack inspiration. The visitors began to look threatening and take control of the game and they went ahead just before the half hour through a stunning strike by Sean Rigg that would have graced any football match.
The Bees never really got going in the first half and were guilty of some poor defending around the edge of the penalty area which led to Vale’s second goal 10 minutes later, Gary Roberts scoring with a fine drive from an acute angle.
HT: Bees 0 Vale 2
Lawrie Sanchez made one change at half time, replacing Tommy Fraser with Charlie Taylor, a substitution which surprised many home fans. Barnet needed an early goal to have any chance of getting back in the game but they failed to create many chances early on in the second half and things went from bad to worse following a dreadful defensive mix up just before the hour mark leaving Rigg an easy chance to fire home to put Vale further ahead.
After going 3-0 down, the Bees did start to create some chances with Mark Marshall beginning to get some space down the left and it was Marshall and Izale McLeod that combined to set up Jason Price to, somewhat fortunately, head home to reduce the arrears on 63 minutes. The Bees had chances to get back in the game, particularly after Sam Deering came on a replacement for Mark Byrne. McLeod hit a fine drive just wide of the left hand post and Deering created two fine chances that were just missing a final touch at the end. However, it has to be said that Vale could, and should, have extended their lead on more than one occasion, though this was mostly down to dreadful defending, with Clovis Kamdjo and Danny Senda primarily responsible. Without question, Vale deserved the three points and the Bees could have been on the end of a real hiding, truth be told. There was some comfort, though, in that Barnet looked a lot better in the last half an hour. It also looked clear that Sanchez had made a tactical mistake not playing Deering from the start. What was more worrying was the state of the Bees’ defence. At times it was woeful, bordering on the comical. Hopefully, things wil be sorted out before the Gillingham game on Tuesday.
Barnet Mad Bees’ Man of the Match: Mark Marshall
FT: Bees 1 Vale 3
Barnet: Brill; Senda, Uddin, Kamdjo, Parkes; Fraser (Taylor45), Hughes, Byrne (Deering 72), Marshall; Price, McLeod.
Subs not used: O’Brien, Cox, Holmes.
Att: 2260