4:57pm Saturday 4th September 2010
Barnet 3
Cheltenham 1
League Two
A PHIL WALSH brace and a glittering display from Mark Marshall lifted Barnet to their first win of the season against Cheltenham at Underhill, despite falling behind inside one minute.
Walsh rose to meet Marshall's delivery ten minutes after Frankie Artus' stunning free-kick had given the visitors the lead. The striker, possibly making his final appearance for the Bees after joining on a one-month loan deal from Dagenham & Redbridge in August, certainly ensured he would be going out with a bang, getting on the end of a Ricky Holmes corner in the second half.
Fittingly, Marshall scampered through for Barnet's third of the afternoon, a result that lifts them off the foot of the League Two table.
With the first attack of the game Cheltenham took the lead. Ironically, the goal stemmed from Dagenham, rather than Barnet or Cheltenham, with ex-Dagger Anwar Uddin fouling former team-mate at Victoria Road Wesley Thomas 30 yards out with less than a minute on the clock. Artus stepped up and thundered an unstoppable drive into Jake Cole's top left-hand corner.
With a 7-0 drubbing at the hands of Crewe Alexandra still fairly fresh in the memory for Barnet, they would have been forgiven for allowing their heads to drop.
But Mark Marshall initiated the revival. His first foray down the left flank forced a corner, but his second was right on the money and created the equaliser.
Holmes, drifting over from the right wing, slipped a clever ball through the backline for Marshall to scamper on to, and this time his delivery was perfect, being met by the head of a flying Phil Walsh, the ball finding the top corner.
The hosts looked the more dangerous thereafter, Steve Kabba in particular a ubiquitous presence in the final third.
Thomas did see a header comfortably saved by Cole, while Kabba had a decent appeal for a penalty waved away by referee Gary Sutton.
There was an injury blow for Barnet as Darren Dennehy was taken off with what appeared to be a knock to his ankle, Jordan Parkes coming on in his stead, with Daniel Leach moving into the centre to partner Anwar Uddin at the back.
Just after the half hour mark Cheltenham were forced into a substitution as goalscorer Artus was taken off injured, with on-loan Portsmouth midfielder Marlon Pack replacing him.
Cole was forced into an acrobatic save to deny Josh Low, whose free-kick seemed to be heading for the top corner before the keeper got his hands to it.
Barnet ended the first half on the front foot, and that is how they began the second, Holmes drilling in a superb low cross from the right that Walsh was inches from connecting with.
Pack, another ex-Dagenham player, picked out Thomas with a fine crossfield ball but, after the striker cut inside, his shot drifted harmlessly past the near post.
Marshall, again at the centre of the action, did brilliantly to jink past two defenders before wasting the chance by blasting a left-footed shot high over the bar.
Minutes later he came close again, this time from the opposite flank, his shot flashing across the face of goal.
A second goal for the Bees looked ominous, and so it proved, albeit in controversial circumstances.
Holmes swung over a dangerous corner into the six-yard area and Walsh was lurking to knock the ball past Scott Brown in the visitors' net, although there was some debate as to whether a defender had got the final touch.
The lead was no more than Barnet deserved, and they put the gloss on their first victory of the campaign with ten minutes remaining.
Kabba, who excelled up front throughout, dropped deep temporarily and timed his pass through the defence to perfection, Marshall, unsurprisingly, latching on to the end of it. His first-time effort was well-saved by Brown but the ball fell fortuitously back at the winger's feet, and he made no mistake, sliding the ball into the unguarded net.
The goal was rich reward for a man-of-the-match performance from Marshall, who is on loan at Underhill from Swindon Town.
Barnet could have had a fourth but for the athleticism of Brown, who denied Leach with a superb diving save.
On this evidence Mark Stimson is putting together a side capable of not only beating the drop into the Conference, but one that will give some of the bigger teams in the division a few headaches along the way.
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