Thomas cracker blunts the Daggers
6:40pm Saturday 8th September 2007
Dagenham & Redbridge 1 Barnet 1 . . .
Anthony Thomas fired home his first Barnet goal to earn the Bees a point at Dagenham this afternoon.
But the striker later declared: "We deserved all three points."
Thomas' effort came at the end of a "blistering" 20-minute spell at the end of the first half in which the Bees had their hosts on the rack.
"We didn't want the whistle to blow," Thomas said. "We had them pinned down."
Ex-Barnet star Ben Strevens had given his side the lead on 20 minutes, but that was the last real threat from the Daggers.
Their visitors took control and created several chances before Thomas equalised in bizarre circumstances. He played a free-kick short to Jason Puncheon and hit the return ball low and hard into the corner from 20 yards. The striker turned away in celebration, but there was confusion in the ground, the ball having gone under the netting.
But Thomas said: "I knew it was a goal and there was no doubt in my mind."
Dagenham had started the better of the two teams, creating a couple of good chances in the early stages, but Thomas had also earlier come close, keeper Tony Roberts blocking a near-post effort from a Kenny Gillet centre.
The Dagenham opener was a gift. The Barnet defence attempted to shepherd a through-ball to Lee Harrison, but it never reached him and Strevens stuck out a boot to stab it past the keeper and just over the line, despite the attempts of Ismail Yakubu to clear it.
However, the Bees recovered well from the set-back. Thomas put Birchall in the clear, but the latter saw Roberts block his shot with an outstretched boot. Thomas then saw Roberts push away a rasping drive, as Barnet pushed for the equaliser, producing some excellent passing football in the process.
Puncheon drove inches over on the stroke of half-time and it looked like the Bees would gain no reward for their efforts, but Thomas struck in injury time, his bolt from the blue giving Roberts (and the net) little chance of stopping the ball.
The second half never lived up to the first, but Barnet still looked the likelier to score and ended the stronger team.
Yakubu saw a header palmed off the line by Roberts and then almost won it late on with another header from a Josh Wright ball forward, the keeper pushing this one over.
Puncheon then almost repeated last week's last-gasp winner, bur Roberts pulled off a fine save to keep out his powerful drive.
Manager Paul Fairclough said: "I'm quite disappointed to be honest. I felt it was an opportunity to take all three points.
"We had a 20-minute spell just before half-time which was blistering and we didn't want half-time to come. It came at the wrong moment for us."
BARNET (4-4-2): Harrison; Devera, Yakubu, Burton, Gillet; Carew (Wright 66), Porter, Bishop, Puncheon; Birchall, Thomas (Hatch 81). Subs not used: Beckwith, Nicolau, O'Cearuill.
Attendance: 2,192.