Barnet v Cheltenham Town Match Report
Barnet fought back superbly from a goal down against Cheltenham to get their first win of the season thanks to a brace from Phil Walsh, the striker on loan from Dagenham and Redbridge.
It was the away side who took the initiative as early as the first minute, when Frankie Artus smashed home an exceptional free kick into the top corner from a long way out past the diving Jake Cole, who could get nowhere near the strike.
Steve Kabba, who arrived back from an injury sustained at Chesterfield on the opening day of the season, tried to grab an equaliser right away, but after a brilliant run into the opponent’s area, he couldn’t pick out any Barnet player in the box.
However, after 11 minutes, winger Mark Marshall strode into the penalty area and produced a lovely cross across the face of the goal, which was well nodded in by Phil Walsh to get his first goal in a Barnet shirt.
After such a lively start, it wasn’t until first half injury time when the next noticeable chance of the game was created. However, Cheltenham skipper Michael Pook had a driven shot very well saved by Cole.
After the break, Phil Walsh almost doubled his and Barnet’s advantage after some very hesitant Cheltenham defending, but could only shoot wide from the edge of the penalty area.
Walsh finally got his second goal, after 65 minutes, as a pinpoint Holmes corner found the striker in the six yard box who could tap the ball into the back of the net, much to the displeasure of the travelling Cheltenham supporters.
From that moment on, it was clear that only one team could end up winning the game, and that surprisingly was not Cheltenham. Just a matter of minutes after Walsh’s goal, Bees left back Jordan Parkes shot just wide from an acute angle after a nice passing move.
With 81 minutes on the clock, just as The Robins were looking to fly their way into the Barnet goal for an undeserved equalizer, Steve Kabba got the ball from deep inside his own half. He slipped an exquisite through ball for Mark Marshall to run onto, who managed to get the ball past Cheltenham’s keeper Scott Brown and keep his composure to pass the ball into an open goal.
If Cheltenham thought Barnet were just going to play defensively and see the game out at 3-1, they were wrong and Ricky Holmes forced an instinctive save from the goalkeeper. Moments after that, from a Ricky Holmes cross, Danny Kelly almost scored his first Barnet goal but his shot was again well palmed away by the keeper. Glen Southam, who won’t be visiting Cheltenham any time soon after a few altercations with the hard core away supporters, fired an injury time shot just over the goal from the edge of the area but could not get his shot on target.
No doubt Barnet manager Mark Stimson will be delighted to get the first three points of the season under his belt and his side visit a struggling Lincoln City next weekend. He will hope that his team can build on today’s positive result.
Adam Hern