Barnet 0 Bristol Rovers 1 - The Monday report (From Times Series)

Barnet 0 Bristol Rovers 1 - The Monday report

12:18pm Monday 28th January 2008 in

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It was of little consolation at the time, but Barnet, in the cold light of day, can take heart from the fact that it was the losers of this big FA Cup tie that tried to play all the football.

The Bees, in the first half, showed their biggest crowd of the season just what they are capable of and won many plaudits.

Manager Paul Fairclough went as far as to describe it as the best first-half performance he had seen from a Barnet side since arriving at Underhill.

He said: "We didn't deserve that result. My players were outstanding in all areas. In the first half, we gave Bristol a lesson in how to play football.

"I'm very proud of my team."

Sadly, few will remember the performance in years to come and it was the Pirates who bagged the prize of a place in the last 16, Barnet falling at the fourth-round stage for the second year running.

But Fairclough still took much comfort from the fact that his players were the ones keeping the ball on the ground and passing it, while the higher-league visitors resorted to hoofing it upfield.

However, all the hard work was undone in an instant just after the interval, a diving Rickie Lambert heading home a David Pipe cross at the near post for the only goal of the game.

Fairclough said: "You could have been forgiven for thinking you were watching a Premier Division side in the first half. They (Bristol Rovers) couldn't get near us, but the goal unsettled us and we lost our momentum."

And, credit to Rovers, once they had got their noses in front, they never looked like conceding, their sucker punch knocking the stuffing out of the hosts who barely troubled them again.

Of course, it might have been so different if Jason Puncheon, the outstanding player in Tuesday's fourth-round replay success, had converted a penalty after just three minutes.

Danny Coles had handled an Ashley Carew cross, but Puncheon saw keeper Steve Phillips dive to his left to keep out his spot kick.

Fairclough believed Barnet should have had a second chance from 12 yards, when Cliff Akurang saw a header blocked by Craig Hinton's arm, but it was not to be.

"It looked more like a penalty than the first one, but that's football," he said.

The Bees adopted the 4-5-1 formation that has stood them in such good stead on their travels of late, but, despite their dominance and free-flowing football, created very few chances, Akurang squandering the best opening, when he headed straight at Phillips from a Nicky Nicolau cross.

Ironically, when Fairclough was forced to throw strikers Adam Birchall, Anthony Thomas and Giuliano Grazioli into the fray late on, none of the subs had a sniff of goal, though, to be fair, the Bees were not the same side after Lambert had struck.

The game just seemed to drift away from them and Phillips was not really tested after the break.

Bristol Rovers boss Paul Trollope accepted his side were lucky to go in at the interval level.

"Barnet passed the ball very well and made it very difficult for us," he said.

Fairclough concluded: "I'm very proud of my players. We should still be in the cup, but we're not."

Football can be a cruel game sometimes.

BARNET (4-5-1): Harrison; Porter, Devera, Yakubu, Gillet; Carew (Thomas 68), Wright, Bishop, Nicolau (Birchall 68), Puncheon; Akurang (Grazioli 83). Subs not used: Hendon, O'Cearuill.

Bookings: Puncheon.

Best Bee: Josh Wright.

Attendance: 5,190.