Barnet manager, Ian Hendon made one change from the side that drew 2-2 with Crewe. Jake Hyde replaced the injured David Livermore in a 442 formation. New loan signings, Ben Wright and Ed Upson were on the bench.
Barnet started brightly in a lively first half, but it was Accrington who should have gone ahead as early as the 2nd minute when Michael Symes chested the ball down for Billy Kee who shot wide when well placed.
Jake Hyde then headed straight at the keeper after a well delivered Albert Jarrett cross. Barnet were playing some fine football but were let down by some poor crossing in the main.
However, Albert Adomah was giving the Accrington left back a hard time and he managed to turn him brilliantly before sending in a superb cross for Micah Hyde to head into the net, only for it to be disallowed for offside.
Symes should have put the visitors ahead when he broke through but his fierce shot was well saved by Jake Cole. Soon after, Kee had another golden opportunity to score but blazed over.
Accrington then shot themselves in the foot just on the half hour, a terrible back pass let in Albert Adomah who went past Accrington keeper. Ian Dunbavin and he brought the Bees’ winger down to concede a penalty and was then red carded. John Miles was substituted to allow Accrington to bring on sub goalkeeper, Dean Bouzanis. John O’FLYNN expertly scored from the resulting penalty to score his 16th goal of the season.
Barnet controlled the rest of the half but couldn’t add to their score, though O’Flynn went close.
HT: Bees 1 Stanley 0
Barnet started the second half well by putting the visitors under pressure but were not able to get the ball into the penalty area enough. Some sloppy play allowed Accrington to counter on the break and Symes beat the offside trap, but shot wide with a poor shot. However, Barnet began to lose control of the goal and it was no real surprise when, just before the hour, Phil Edwards headed home from a corner after being given a free header by the home defenders.
Barnet’s play in this period was poor with Accrington looking like the side with the advantage of an extra player, not the home side. Hendon brought on new signing, Ben Wright in place of Jake Hyde and Nicky Deverdics in place of Mark Hughes who had been booked and looked in danger of being sent off.
However, the rhythm of the game remained the same, with Accrington looking the most likely to score. Jake Cole made a fine save from Symes, before the Bees gave away a penalty with just over 10 minutes remaining. Clovis Kamdjo was adjudged to have fouled Kee in the area. If the penalty decision was dubious then the resulting sending off of Kamdjo seemed a very poor decision as Kee did not appear to be in a scoring position. Nonetheless, both sides were now down to 10 men. However, Edwards’ penalty was brilliantly saved by Cole to keep the score at 1-1.
However, Barnet did not seem to have learned the lesson. Hendon, surprisingly, did not bring on a defender to replace Kamdjo and the Bees were made to pay when, with six minutes remaining, Kee was played through in acres of space to fire past Cole to put Accrington ahead. It must be said that Kee did look clearly offside but few Barnet fans would argue that Accrington were worth their lead.
Two minutes later, Barnet should have leveled the scores when Albert Jarrett, who had a very quiet second half, crossed superbly for Adomah, right in front of goal, headed wide when completely unmarked.
That was just about that and Barnet had thrown away what should have been a comfortable three points with a truly dreadful second half performance. To their credit, Accrington came out fighting after the interval and did their supporters proud, but Ian Hendon’s side should never have let them into the game. Instead of a much more comfortable run in to the end of the season, Barnet are still very much in the relegation battle. Next up is a trip to bottom of the table Darlington.
FT; Bees 1 Stanley 2
Barnet Mad Bees’ Man of the Match: Jake Cole.
Barnet: Cole; Devera, Kamdjo, Breen, Lockwood; Adomah, Hughes (Deverdics 65), M Hyde, Jarrett; O’Flynn, J Hyde (Wright 66).
Att: 1559
Accrington: Dunbavin; Kempton, Edwards, Winnard, Lees; Proctor, Joyce, Turner (Ryan 46), Miles (Bouzanis 30); Kee (McConville 90), Symes.
