Steve Kabba started upfront alongside Izale McLeod for the home side, whereas goalkeeper Luke Daniels made his debut for Southend, after joining on an emergency loan deal from West Bromwich Albion.
With just 2 minutes on the clock, Izale McLeod had a brilliant opportunity to give his side the lead after Darren Dennehy was deemed to have been brought down in the penalty area. McLeod, who has adopted a technique of trying to smash the ball down the centre of the goal with power, did the same again, only this time, the ball sailed well over the goal, so it was a glorious opportunity, hideously wasted. If that chance had been taken, the end result may have been altered a bit.
Southend’s first real chance of note, came on a quarter of an hour, when from a Liam Dickinson cross, Ryan Hall, who was easily one of the best players on the pitch, saw his attempt well saved by Liam O’Brien.
But Hall didn’t have to wait much longer to get his name on the score sheet, and when he did, it was a finish worth savouring. Peter Gilbert took a quick free kick from inside his own half, which was taken well on the chest by Hall, who swivelled and struck the ball sweetly into the bottom left hand corner of the net, which caught O’Brien out no ends up. But defensively, from a Barnet’s point of view, Lawrie Sanchez and his coaching staff will not at al be happy that their defenders were not able to deal with a simple ball over the top, despite the emphatic finish.
The next time O’Brien was forced into action, he did rather better. Southend were able to break easily on the counter attack, but thankfully for the home faithful, the keeper was able to save nicely Ryan Leonard’s effort.
The first half saw 4 Barnet players booked, 3 of them, mark Hughes, Darren Dennehy, and Steve Kabba, for unsporting behaviour. And it is understandable that the Bees were getting angry and restless, especially after Southend’s second goal.
Ryan Hall swung in a cross from the right and touchline, and Bilel Mohsni applied a simple tap in from 2 yards. However, the assistant referee on the far side had flagged for offside, which was when various Southend players, including Mohsni himself, remonstrated with both the linesman, referee, and fourth official. They seemed to be rather aggressive, and after somewhat lengthy talks between the officials, the referee, for some reason, overruled his assistant, and allowed the goal to stand. Quite rightly, everyone associated with Barnet Football Club had felt they had been hard done by, both by the referee for overruling his assistant who was clearly in a better position to asses and call the decision, as well as the fact the Southend players seemed very aggressive towards the officials themselves, with no punishment being put forward towards their name. It was a bizarre decision, which angered manager Lawrie Sanchez and his assistants Guliano Grazioli and Michael Stone; but there was nothing they could do. Southend were winning two goals to zero, and that was final.
Southend were then easily able to play the ball between each other, until the second half whistle had been blown, which was followed by a chorus of boos towards the referee from the home faithful.
Barnet are known for being able to start halves of games on the front foot, with nothing to show for the pressure, and the second half followed the norm, so to speak. Ricky Holmes, a lifelong Southend fan, saw his shot well held by Daniel’s, who looked strong and competent on his debut.
Ryan Hall seemed to be involved in everything positive surrounding Southend’s play, and almost scored his second spectacular goal of the evening on 58 minutes, but his thunderous drive sailed just wide on 58 minutes.
A few minutes later, from a Sam Deering corner, Barnet came close to pulling a goal back, but centre back Daniel Leach saw his header palmed over the cross bar.
Apart from that, Southend continued to dominate with some wise play. Ryan Hall swung in a free kick which was headed over by Mark Phillips. It was clear that if there was no way back into the match for Barnet, and Southend were just trying to improve their goal difference. Moments after that chance, Darren Dennehy was given his second yellow card for the home side, for a pull on Ryan hall, meaning that Barnet would have to play the last twenty minutes with ten men.
From the resulting, well worked free kick, Hall pulled the ball back for Michael Timlin, whose shot nestled into the side netting.
Barnet tried to push for a goal, by bringing on Mark Byrne, Lloyd Owusu, and Mauro Vilhete, but these changes proved insufficient and Southend grabbed their 3rd goal from Neil Harris with five minutes from time, the veteran being left the simple task of tapping in from 2 yards from a low Ryan Leonard cross.
All in all, a few controversial decisions decided the outcome of the match, and the 1,216 travelling fans were able to enjoy their relatively short journey back toEssex, seeing their club unbeaten for nine matches, and second in the League table.
The Bees are at home again on Saturday, this time against Burton Albion, and Lawrie Sanchez will be looking to bounce back after two straight defeats. Barnet have the worst defensive record in League Football so far this season, so things have to change, and fast, in order to avoid a repeat of the previous couple of relegation threatened seasons.
Man of the Match: Ryan Hall
Bees Man of the Match: Ricky Holmes