Barnet 2 Morecambe 0

Barnet made just one change from the Shrewsbury match with Nicky Deverdics replacing Mark Hughes in midfield. But it was the away side who almost scored first in the opening minute when Cole was well beaten by Shrimps midfield player, Ian Craney but the shot came back off the post and was cleared.

A minute later and the Bees were in front. Some sloppy Morecambe defending allowed Deverdics to play the ball to the feet of Paul Furlong who scored from close range to score his first goal of the season.

Furlong then saw a header saved by Morecambe keeper, Barry Roche following a fine Deverdics cross. Jake Hyde then headed just wide from Albert Adomah's cross as the Bees pressed and had probably their best spell of the match.

Phil Jevons hit wildly over the bar for the visitors from a free kick just outside the penalty area. Cole then saved well from Jevons who shot from close range. Yakubu headed a dangerous cross clear as Morecambe came back into the came.

Albert Jarrett then broke clear and shot just wide for the Bees and Furlong headed just wide from a fine Kenny Gillet cross. Just before half time, Morecambe's Michael Twiss was played through but lost his footing and miskicked and the ball was cleared.

HT: Bees 1 Shrimps 0

Early in the second half, Paul Furlong collected his third booking already this season, apparently for dissent as Barnet struggled to get a grip on the game. Morecambe dominated but failed to really test Jake Cole in the home goal.

However, Morecambe did have the ball in Barnet's net but their effort was disallowed for offside. Soon after, Barnet made their first substitution, bringing on former Macclesfield full back, Ahmed Deen for his Barnet debut in place of the injured Kenny Gillet who had had a fine match.

Barnet almost went 2-0 up when following a free kick, a Jake Hyde overhead kick fell just wide of the post. Joe Tabiri came on for Deverdics for his first appearance of the season and then both Jake Hyde and Tabiri were booked. The match was getting rather untidy and Barnet were having trouble mounting any attacks against a strong, physical Morecambe side.

However, on 83 minutes a fine run on the left by Albert Jarrett ended when he was tripped by Darren Moss and the referee awarded a penalty which, somewhat surprisingly, Jarrett took himself. Jarrett promptly sent the keeper the wrong way putting the ball into the right hand side of the goal to put the Bees 2-0 up. Before the restart, barnet brought on Yannick Bolasie for Jake Hyde.

That was pretty much the end of the action as the Bees wound the game down, despite having to play 5 minutes of time added on. Morecambe didn't really threaten and the Bees claimed their first three points of the season. It was also the first win over Morecambe since 2004.

It was a scrappy performance and I'm sure that Barnet will play a lot better than that this season and lose, but a win is a win and I'm sure Ian Hendon will be grateful for that. One positive of the match, apart from the result, was a strong defensive performance with the whole of the back four performing well. However, Mark Hughes was badly missed in midfield, where the pairing of Nicky Deverdics and Micah Hyde didn't impress.

On the negative side, the Bees gave the ball away too much and seemed to get drawn into playing the way that Morecambe wanted to but sometimes you just have to churn out a win. The three points take Barnet up to 11^th place in the table, just two points off of the play-offs!!

Barnet Mad Bees Man of the Match: Daniel Leach.

Barnet; Cole; O'Neill, Yakubu, Leach, Gillet (Deen); Adomah, Deverdics (Tabiri), M. Hyde, Jarrett; Furlong, J. Hyde (Bolasie).