Fruitless trip to Darlington for Bees

5:05pm Saturday 9th February 2008

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FULL TIME: Darlington 1 Barnet 0 . . .

A spirited second-half display could not save Barnet from defeat at the Darlington Arena this afternoon.

The Bees went in at the break one down, having also seen teenage midfielder Josh Wright miss a penalty.

But they dominated the second period, only a goal missing from the performance.

The visitors made just one change from the side that lost to Morecambe last Saturday, fit-again keeper Rob Beckwith replacing Lee Harrison between the sticks.

The Bees wore last season's home shirt, their current two kits deemed too much of a clash with the Quakers' black and white hoops.

It was the hosts who had the first effort on goal after five minutes, Greg Blundell's snapshot from a central position helped over by the fingertips of Beckwith.

And it took Darlington just 11 minutes to open the scoring. There seemed little danger when Julian Joachim took down a ball on the edge of the area, but the ex-Premier League striker showed his class, lashing a shot into the corner past the outstetched hand of the diving Barnet keeper. It was a quality strike and there was little Beckwith could do to keep it out.

To their credit, both sides tried to play passing football, even though the Darlington Arena surface was heavy and cut up from the beginning.

The Bees forced their first corner midway through the half, but it came to nothing.

The goal certainly knocked the visitors off their stride and they struggled to create openings.

And Beckwith had to pull off a fine save to keep out an Alan White header from a Joachim centre, as the hosts attempted to wrap the game up before the half-hour mark.

But, out of the blue, Cliff Akurang latched on to a misjudged back-pass header. As he advanced towards goal, White brought him down and the referee pointed to the spot.

The defender was lucky to escape with only a yellow card and his side were even luckier to see keeper David Stockdale dive low to push Josh Wright's penalty round the post.

It was the second penalty Barnet had squandered in three games.

And the Quakers almost made them pay, Blundell seeing Beckwith block his close-range shot on 35 minutes, before Joachim drove an effort just past the upright.

At the other end, Jason Puncheon hit a low drive just past the post, as the Bees tried to put the penalty miss behind them.

Barnet brought on Kieron St Aimie in place of Nicky Nicolau at the start of the second half, and they got off to a cracking start, creating a number of excellent chances.

In the space of a few minutes, Wright saw a shot blocked, while Neal Bishop was agonisingly close with a low shot that beat everyone but rolled the wrong side of the post.

Akurang was then put clean through, but Stockdale blocked his shot, and Albert Adomah rolled the rebound wide.

Wright again tried his luck with a long-range effort, but was just wide, as the stunned hosts were pinned in their own half.

The Quakers finally created something of their own on the hour, but sub Tommy Wright's shot on the turn was well wide.

But it was Barnet doing the pressing and Adomah set up Joe Devera on the edge of the box, the defender unable to keep his shot down on this occasion.

The home fans were becoming increasingly frustrated by their side's lacklustre second-half display, with the Bees continuing to look the likelier to find the net.

However, despite their dominance, chances were becoming fewer and fewer, the hosts seemingly content to sit on their lead as the game entered the final stages.

With just three minutes to go, sub Adam Birchall saw Stockdale make a routine stop, as the Bees fought in vain to grab a late equaliser.

BARNET (4-5-1): Beckwith; Porter, Devera, Yakubu, Gillet; Adomah, Wright, Puncheon (Birchall 63), Bishop, Nicolau (St Aimie 45); Akurang. Subs not used: Harrison, Burton, Leary.

Attendance: 3,145.