BARNET achieved the impossible by securing their place in League Two with a thrilling and narrow victory, on a nerve jangling day at Underhill.

Izale McLeod cropped up to score the most important goal of Barnet's season, from the penalty spot just 10 seconds into the second half.

He was floored by Gareth Owens. The former £1.5m hitman picked himself up, before stepping up to send home fans wild with a thumping spot kick past keeper Chris Martin.

Young stopper Sam Walker later made himself a hero by plucking the ball from Marc Richards' feet on 80 minutes when the Valiants' skipper went clean through on goal after leaving Jordan Parkes for dead.

Barnet simply wanted it more today with the threat of relegation down into non-league football weighing heavily on everyone present at the near sell-out occasion.

Vale spent long spells of the game pinned back in their own half, as playmaker Mark Byrne squandered a trio of good chances to ease the tension, early on in this showdown.

Joe Devera also saw a chance go begging, as stopper Martin turned in a man-of-the-match display for the visitors with a string of saves for his underperforming team.

In contrast, Walker had a quiet game in Barnet's goal. Louie Dodds had Vale's best chance of the match, heading over the crossbar from eight yards after Richards' free-kick deflected high off the wall, near the hour mark.

There was no hanging on grimly for the hosts, they spent almost the whole game on the front foot, with winger Mark Marshalls pace and trickery causing Vale's defence big problems throughout.

A mass pitch invasion greeted the final whistle which marked Barnet's survival in the footbal league.

Lincoln City lost 3-0 to Aldershot to slip below the Bees into the relegation zone, consigning themselves to relegation and so turning a seemingly impossible dream into a reality for Barnet.

There was cheering around the ground as the result from elsewhere fed through. That excitement exploded in joy at the end of six endless minutes of extra time, when the stadium announcer's pleas for no incursion onto the pitch were totally ignored by celebrating fans delighted at Barnet's latest great escape.

Sam Walker, Joe Devera (capt), Jordan Parkes, Mark Marshall, Clovis Kamdjo, Daniel Leach, Izale McLeod (Charlie Taylor 84), Mark Byrne (Tommy Fraser 90), Jack Midson.

Subs: Glen Southam, Ricky Holmes, Sam Cox, Liam O'Brien, Jude Stirling.