Suspensions and Injuries threaten play-off hopes

8:00pm Wednesday 31st January 2007

Barnet manager Paul Fairclough was this week looking to bring in some new faces in order to make up the numbers.

Every available first-team squad player was required for the trip to Notts County on Tuesday - and one of those, keeper Robert Burch, was brought in on loan on the day itself.

And it is very likely Burch will not be the only new face at Underhill this week.

With stand-in captain Nicky Bailey suspended for Saturday's trip to Torquay, Fairclough might not have enough players available to field five subs.

Burch, who is currently third-choice keeper at Tottenham, was an emergency replacement for Ross Flitney, who missed the 1-1 draw in Nottingham with a groin injury. First-choice keeper Lee Harrison is also injured, while Mikael Jaimez-Ruiz was unavailable because of a family bereavement.

The others out are Ian Hendon (suspended), Dean Sinclair (suspended), Giuliano Grazioli (injured) and Jason Norville (injured).

The situation could be even worse this morning. Barnet fans were clockwatching last night. They were hoping the likes of Bailey, Simon King and Jason Puncheon, who have been attracting the attention of a number of scouts in recent weeks, were not snapped up in the final hours of the transfer window.

It was due to close at midnight. At the time of going to press, no deals had been done.

Notts County 1 Barnet 1 Coca-Cola League Two by PAUL WREYFORD (at Meadow Lane) You have got to be satisfied with a point when your stand-in goalkeeper is forced to face three penalties on his debut.

Robert Burch, drafted in on loan from Tottenham a few hours before kick-off, must have wondered what he had let himself in for.

He saved the first of those spot kicks on 15 minutes, but could do nothing to stop the second, after the referee ordered the first to be retaken.

Fortunately, the third, just 20 minutes later, was drilled against the bar and Barnet made their careless hosts pay for it in the second half, stand-in captain Nicky Bailey grabbing a late, but fully deserved, equaliser.

Burch could not have had a more eventful start to his Barnet career, but, apart from the penalties, he had very little to do.

The Magpies struggled to create clear-cut chances and wasted the few that they did.

The Bees enjoyed plenty of possession, particularly in the second half, but also struggled to really test keeper Kevin Pilkington.

In fact, most of their chances came in a productive five minutes that culminated in Bailey's equaliser a quarter-of-an-hour from time.

First, Bailey threaded in Adam Birchall, but his shot was straight at Pilkington and lacking venom, while Jason Puncheon shot straight at the keeper after cutting inside from the left a minute later.

Bailey then saw a free-kick deflected off the home wall and just past the post.

It was from the resulting corner that Barnet struck. It had been coming and was no surprise the tireless Bailey got it.

Graham swung the ball in deep for Joe Devera to head back into the danger zone. Bailey found himself just six yards out and managed to direct his header past the keeper and a couple of players on the line.

County had started the second half well, but Jason Lee and Jay Smith both smacked efforts wide and Burch only had one routine save to make, holding a Dan Martin free-kick that was hit straight into his arms.

The first half was dominated by the penalties and it was a 45 minutes Barnet defender Adam Gross will probably want to forget. He conceded both. The first was a clumsy challenge on Andy Parkinson, who had latched on to a Martin ball into the area. There were few complaints about the decision.

Burch blocked Lawrie Dudfield's first penalty and the Bees managed to clear, only for the referee to point to the spot again.

This time the complaints were loud and clear. The officials harshly penalised Burch for coming off his line and Dudfield chose a different spot for his second kick, the Barnet debutant diving the wrong way on this occasion.

The Bees had started the better of the two sides, but the goal visibly knocked them out of their stride.

And, with ten minutes of the first half to go, Dudfield was offered another chance from the spot.

Parkinson again got the better of Gross and the left-back was judged to have pulled him back. This time Dudfield looked to blast the penalty into the roof of the net, but it was too high and smacked off the crossbar.

That miss seemed to raise Barnet's spirits and they picked up again after the break, going on to finish thestronger of the two sides.

BARNET (4-4-2): Burch; Devera, Yakubu, King, Gross; Cogan, Hessenthaler, Bailey, Graham; Birchall, Puncheon (Allen 83). Subs not used: Nicolau, Charles, Warhurst, Hatch.

Middlesex Senior Cup round-up Wingate & Finchley and Hendon are through to the semi-finals of the Middlesex Senior Cup.

Wingate saw off Harrow Borough in a dramatic penalty shoot-out at the Abrahams Stadium on Tuesday night, after the tie had finished 2-2 after extra time, while ten-man Hendon came from behind to beat Hillingdon Borough 4-2 at Claremont Road.

The Blues will now host Northwood in the last four, while the Greens will entertain Hayes, with both matches due to take place in the last week of this month.

Wingate were gifted the lead on 20 minutes, when Harrow's James Bent headed a Leon Osei free-kick into his own net.

But Bent made amends ten minutes into the second half, his curling free-kick sending the match into extra time.

The same player put Borough ahead in the 100th minute, but Darren Assiamah volleyed home with just two minutes of the tie remaining.

The penalty shoot-out went into sudden death, with Wingate keeper Ed Thompson making the save that finally gave the Blues a 6-5 win.

Hendon were already trailing to a 17th-minute Danny Tilbury goal when Mark Leach was red-carded for a second bookable offence early in the second half.

However, Dean Green equalised for the hosts, only for Borough to regain the lead again through Sam Byfield.

Hendon then struck three times in a devastating seven minutes.

Sub Lee O'Leary headed home minutes after coming on and then Jamie Busby edged the home side in front, before Green rounded it off with a fourth in the 74th minute.

Hayes and Northwood booked their semi-final places with victories over Edgware Town and Potters Bar Town respectively.

The Wares rested nine of their first team in the 3-0 home defeat, but still gave a good account of themselves against the full-strength Conference South side.

Potters Bar were forced to play two matches in two days this week. They saw off Conference South side Bishops Stortford 5-2 after extra time in the Herts Charity Cup semi-final on Tuesday night - just 24 hours after the 2-0 defeat at Northwood in the Middlesex Senior Cup.

The prolific Richard Howard hit four at Woodside Park, James Dickie netting the other, as the Scholars struck three times in the extra 30 minutes.