Barnet took four points over the Easter period taking their tally over the last four matches to 8 points and keeping four clean sheets into the bargain. In doing so, the Bees moved onto 48 points from 42 matches and moved up to 18th, somewhat of a nose bleed situation for the Bees this season thus far!!
On Friday at Underhill, the Bees were at home to Dagenham & Redbridge, themselves not yet clear of the relegation dogfight and the game had all the hallmarks of a bottom of the table game with both sides looking not to lose rather than to win. The Bees created little in the way of chances apart from in the first half when Jake Hyde should have done much better with a free header just a few yards out from goal after a fine Mark Byrne cross.
The visitors were, perhaps, somewhat fortunate to have 11 players still on the pitch come half time after a very poor challenge from left back, Femi Ilesamni on Jon Nurse left the Barnet winger crumpled by the by-line. To add insult to injury, referee Keith Hill seemed more interested in Nurse leaving the field of play rather than dealing with Ilesamni, who escaped with just a yellow card. The game remained goalless at half time and after the break it was the Daggers, in all fairness who looked more likely to score with the home side lacking any real cutting edge up front. And it was the Essex side that came closest to scoring when winger, Medy Elito hit a fearsome drive from wide on the left which needed a fine effort from Graham Stack to touch it onto the bar and away from danger. The only real effort of note from the Bees was a long range shot from Edgar Davids that drifted wide. Barnet finished the 90 minutes with just 10 men when substitute, Kyle De Silva was shown a red card for a clumsy challenge which showed up the inconsistency of many referees today as it was arguably a less serious challenge than the one in the first half on Nurse. Worse was to come when Barry Fuller was sent off after the whistle, presumably for something he said to Mr Hill and which would leave the Bees without a senior regular right back for the next three matches.
All in all, a disappointing result from Barnet who could have done with more than a point from the game, given how tight it is at the bottom but, in all honesty, they didn’t deserve the three points from what was a very drab affair.
FT: Bees 0 Daggers 0
Barnet: Stack; Fuller, Stephens, Flanagan, Johnson; Byrne, Weston, Oster (De Silva 76), Davids (Yiadom 81), Nurse; Hyde (Beattie 84).
Subs (did not play): N,Toko, Gambin, Barnes, Jenkins.
Att: 3680
On Easter Monday, the Bees who had slipped two places to 22nd after the weekend travelled to Kingston to play away at AFC Wimbledon and the Barnet side was unchanged except for Andy Yiadom starting at right back in place of the suspended Barry Fuller. New signings, Keanu Marsh-Brown and Michel Kuipers were on the bench.
The hosts started the strongest and exerted a great deal of pressure on the Bees in the first 10-15 minutes without really testing Graham Stack, who was receiving a great deal of unsavoury stick from the home supporters. The Bees did start to settle down and played some quite nice football but, as against Dagenham, it lacked any cutting edge. A shot from Jon Nurse midway through the half which easily cleared the AFC bar was the closest that Barnet came to scoring and it was, in many ways, a repeat of Good Friday’s game and it was not surprising that the game was goalless at half time.
The second half began much as the first half had with AFC starting the half fairly strongly and Barnet mostly on the back foot but the game changed when Jon Nurse was injured just past the hour; Keanu Marsh-Brown coming on for his first Barnet performance. Immediately, he gave the Barnet attack more drive and pace and showed his intentions of playing much more directly taking on three defenders and on 85 minutes, following a defensive mistake by AFC, MARSH-BROWN broke free on the right and his shot from the right hand side of the penalty area took a deflection which took it past AFC’s veteran ‘keeper, John Sullivan into the net to give the visitors a rather fortunate lead.
The home side pushed hard for an equaliser and it looked like they had done so a minute before the end of normal time when a shot by Gary Alexander seemed to be going in until Graham Stack, somehow, clawed it away off the line with an astonishing save and the danger was cleared. The Bees survived five minutes added time to gain a priceless win and three crucial points, even if it was a rather smash and grab affair. The win took Barnet up to 18th in the table but other results mean that they are still just 3 points from the drop zone. Hopefully, a win on Saturday at home to Chesterfield will follow and allow Barnet fans to breathe a little more easily.
FT: Wombles 0 Bees 1
Barnet: Stack; Yiadom, Stephens, Flanagan, Johnson; Byrne, Weston, Oster (Jenkins 89), Davids , Nurse (Marsh-Brown 68; Hyde (Crawford 84).
Subs (did not play): Kuipers, Kamdjo, Gambin, Beattie.
Att: 4696