When Barnet and Grimsby met at Underhill last in 2009, Barnet were 21st and Grimsby were 22nd. Both sides clearly were in need of points. Barnet had won 1-0 at Blundell Park earlier in the season, their first ever win against the Mariners and indeed the first points they had taken from Grimsby following six straight defeats in fixtures between the two clubs since Barnet were promoted back to League Two in 2005.
Barnet gave debuts to midfield player, Mark Hughes signed from Chester until the end of the season and left back, Matt Lockwood signed on loan from Colchester United. Recent loan signing from Plymouth, left winger, Yannick Bolasie mad his first start for the Bees. Barnet were still looking for their first win under caretaker manager, Ian Hendon. The Grimsby line up included former Underhill favourite, Dean Sinclair who was back at Barnet for the first time since joining Charlton in 2007.
Barnet started brightly and took the lead on 18 minutes when Yannick Bolasie hit a shot from 20 yards into the bottom corner of the net. It was the young winger's first goal for the club.
Almost straight after, Joe Devera crossed from the right for Paul Furlong to head home and put the Bees 2-0 up. However, five minutes later, Bees' keeper, Ran Kadoch gave away an unnecessary corner and he failed to deal properly with the resulting corner and Ryan Bennett got a touch on it to make it 2-1.
On half time, Dean Sinclair crossed for Stuart Elliott to head home an equalizer for the Bees.
HT: Bees 2 Mariners 2
Barnet started the half well and leading scorer, John O'Flynn should have put Barnet back in front when Bolasie burst down the left wing and crossed for Neal Bishop to play O'Flynn in but he fluffed his shot. Moments later, the Bees were awarded a penalty after Albert Adomah was brought down following a neat one-two with O'Flynn. O'Flynn firmly put the penalty away to make it 3-2 to Barnet.
Ismail Yakubu, O'Flynn and Bolasie all went close for Barnet but it was to be the visitors who were to score again. Twelve minutes from time, Grimsby loanee, Adrian Forbes leveled the scores with an acrobatic overhead kick, which was later to be voted by the Grimsby fans as their choice of goal of the season, and Barnet had to settle for a point in a match that they really should have won, though, it must be said, Grimsby certainly played their part in this six goal thriller.
Barnet gained that elusive first win under Ian Hendon just 11 days later with a convincing 4-1 home win over Bradford City and eventually climbed to a safer 17th place in the table by the end of the season. Grimsby ended the season still in 22nd place, just four points above Chester, but at least they held on to their precious league place.
FT: Bees 3 Mariners 3
Barnet: Kadoch; Devera, Breen, Yakubu, Lockwood; Adomah (Deverdics), Hughes, Bishop, Bolasie; Furlong (Akurang), O'Flynn.