Bee’s manager Lawrie Sanchez decided to give Charlie Taylor a rare start, thanks to Steve Kabba picking up an injury in the away game at Crewe, whilst new signing Lloyd Owusu took a place on the bench. Meanwhile,Plymouth boss Peter Reid left out former Barnet favourite Jake Cole, instead opting to play Romain Larrieu in goal instead.
It was the home side who started the better team, and with 4 minutes on the clock, Charlie Taylor fired a shot over the crossbar from just inside Argyle’s penalty area. Barnet did not have to wait much longer to take the lead however. A long throw from the left touchline from Mark Byrne was headed on by a Plymouth defender and the loose ball dropped nicely onto the head of Izale McLeod who was able to nod the ball into the net to notch his 7th league goal already this season.
Plymouth started to pull their act together and started to create chances to try and get back in the game. After a good spell of possession the ball set up nicely for Will Atkinson, on loan from Hull City, who volleyed over from distance. Soon after, Plymouth had a best chance; this time coming from a wonderful through ball from Robbie Williams which found Warren Feeney, whose attempt was hit straight at Bees keeper Dean Brill.
On 38 minutes, Robbie Williams decided to take matters into his own hands, but he also crashed a stinging drive into the hands of Brill who on the whole, looked confident throughout the night.
With a minute of the first half to go, Mark Byrne was almost on hand to double Barnet’s advantage. A good run from inside his own half, culminated in a good low shot from the Irishman from 20 yards, but the ball was held well under pressure by Larrieu, so the two teams went in at the interval with the home side holding a one goal lead.
As Barnet finished the first half on top, they continued the second half the same way with Ricky Holmes scooping a left footed curling shot over the bar, but to be fair to the former Chelmsford City attacker, it seemed as though it was a very difficult opportunity to convert.
Plymouthstill were not out of the game, and came close through two headers; the first one from Feeney whose looping header was easily saved, and secondly, from Ben Gibson, who couldn’t direct his header on target.
Barnet scored their second on 64 minutes, and it wasn’t one of the regular scorers who got the goal. After a spell of Bees pressure,Plymouth failed to clear their lines, and the ball rolled to Daniel Leach, whose deflected attempt from 15 yards rolled past Larrieu into the net.
438 hardy Pilgrims made the trip from Devon, a remarkable turnout for a team bottom of the Football League, also taking into account the distance and the fact it was a Tuesday night, but they were all left in despair when on 66 minutes, there was a scramble in the Barnet six yard box, and the ball fell kindly to Feeney who inexplicably managed to fire over from seemingly underneath the goalposts.
Feeney’s corners however, were somewhat better than his goal attempts, swinging in a cross for on loan Middlesbrough defender Ben Gibson, but the header had too much power on it, and flew just past the post.
With just ten minutes remaining, Charlie Taylor came close to scoring in spectacular fashion. Mark Byrne played through a lovely pass to the 25 year old, who took the ball in his stride and went for goal towards the far post, but unfortunately he couldn’t score add a third for Barnet.
Lloyd Owusu came on late in the match to make his Barnet debut but he wasn’t given much of a chance to impress, but nonetheless his new side were able to hang on to the three points which will surely give them a boost of confidence for Saturday’s match, also at Underhill, against Oxford.