Bees hold leaders Wycombe (From Times Series)

Bees hold leaders Wycombe

6:50pm Saturday 21st January 2006 in

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Barnet 0 Wycombe Wanderers 0 . . .

Barnet manager Paul Fairclough praised his players for a battling performance against the league leaders at Underhill this afternoon.

Though the visitors had the most clear-cut chances, the Bees gave as good as they got and fully deserved to take a point.

Fairclough pointed out afterwards: "We haven't conceded against a team who scores for fun."

He praised all his defenders, but particularly singled out Simon King, who was outstanding.

"If there is a better left-sided centre-half in this league, I haven't seen him," he said.

There was also praise for 40-year-old debutant Andy Hessanthaler.

Fairclough said: "The man is a freak of nature. To cover the amount of ground he did, and with quality as well, is really something."

Barnet played their part in a passionate and exciting 0-0 draw.

The second half, in particular, was end-to-end and could have gone either way. In the end, the draw was probably the fairest result, though, in truth, Ross Flitney was the busiest of the two keepers.

Wycombe certainly carved out the best chances of the first half. Kevin Betsy fired across the face of the goal after rounding Flitney, but no one was on the end of it. Danny Senda then hit the side netting and Sergio Torres fired just over with a shot on the turn.

Barnet struggled to create clear-cut openings. When Giuliano Grazioli did get on the end of a Dean Sinclair cross, the striker was ruled offside, though keeper Matt Duke pulled off a fine point-blank save anyway.

Flitney did well to beat out a Senda snap-shot five minutes after the interval and then produced a flying dive to push away a deflected Betsy shot.

At the other end, Barry Fuller, Dean Sinclair and Grazioli all had long-range efforts, but none of them looked like breaking the deadlock.

The best Barnet chance came five minutes from time. Adam Gross freed Louie Soares down the left and he sped towards goal, but Duke was out quickly to smother his effort and keep Wycombe top of the table.

BARNET (4-4-2): Flitney, Fuller, Yakubu (Batt 75), King, Gross; Sinclair, Hessenthaler, Bailey, Graham; Soares, Grazioli (Varney 88). Subs not used: Jones, Bowditch, Vernazza.

Attendance: 3,602.

Best Bee: Simon King.