After wins over Charlton and Watford, Barnet lost 1-0 at home to Southampton last night. However, it must be said that the Saints’ goal was really a fluke an unlucky ricochet that landed at the feet of Joseph Mills who couldn’t fail to beat Jake Cole from point blank range.

Before the match, it was announced that Steve Kabba and Daniel Leach had signed contracts with the Bees, but, perhaps ominously, Mark Marshall wasn’t mentioned and was not in the squad for the match.

Stimson named the same side to start that played against Charlton with the one exception that Ricky Holmes replaced Marshall. The first half saw some very attractive football from the Bees mostly emanating from the central midfield trio of Jarvis, Southern and Byrne, while Jordan Parkes, again, gave an exemplary performance at left back. Daniel Leach too gave a commanding performance at centre back which confirmed Stimson’s seemingly high opinion of him.

The main problem with the Barnet side, and Southampton too, was the lack of a cutting edge up front. Not that Kabba and Holmes played badly, it was just a lack of width in the side. Without a winger, such as Marshall, too much of Barnet’s play, however attractive, was coming through the middle of the park. Interestingly, both of Barnet’s best chances in the first half came from crosses.

The first and best effort of the night from Barnet came via fine Jordan Parkes free kick which found skipper, Anwar Uddin in the penalty area. Uddin’s towering header looked like it was going into the top corner of the Saints’ net, but keeper, Kelvin Davis stretched well to tip the ball wide of the goal.

The second effort came when Ricky Holmes was able, for once, to get to the line on the right hand side and put over a cross which Kabba just failed to properly connect with.

HT: Bees 0 Saints 0

The second half saw the usual mass substitutions with all the Barnet subs, bar Phil Carpenter getting a run out. Southampton’s goal after 51 minutes was soon followed by Southern, Jarvis, Byrne and Kabba being substituted and Barnet lost a lot of cohesion after that as the substitutes, not surprisingly, took time to settle down. Mark Hughes, Sam Cox, Danny Kelly and Danny Hart were the player who came on.

Southampton began to take control of the game and the Bees’ defence found themselves pushed back for much of the second half, but gradually the revamped Barnet side did begin to get back into the side and created a couple of half chances; Ricky Holmes firing just wide of the post late on.

Jordan Parkes and Anwar Uddin were later replaced by Clovis Kamdjo and young central defender, Reece Yorke who impressed in the short time that he was on the pitch. In the end , it was a useful run out for the Bees, with much to admire, but some concern over the lack of width and cutting edge up front. Glenn Poole was replaced by young Charlie Stimson.

Tonight, Barnet have a match at Wingate & Finchley, with more opportunities for the squad players to perform. Danny Dennehy is set to return after suffering a dead leg, but Bees young scholar, Mauro Vilhete misses out through a hamstring injury.

FT: Bees 0 Saints 1

Barnet: Cole; Devera, Parkes (Yorke 75), Uddin (Kamdjo 66), Leach; Jarvis (Cox 56), Southam (Hart 56), Poole (Stimson 75), Holmes, Byrne (Hughes 56); Kabba (Kelly 56).