Barnet started much the brighter of the two sides and could have gone ahead in the first minute when Mark Hughes headed the ball on for Yannick Bolasie whose shot was saved by the Daggers'' veteran keeper, Tony Roberts and the ball was cleared away for a corner.
Bolasie then broke through again and laid on the ball for Albert Adomah whose long range shot was comfortably saved by Roberts. The Bees were well in control against a Dagenham side who seemed largely content to play a lot of long balls up front, by passing the midfield. However, the Bees' defence had to be on their guard when Dagenham broke and it took an excellent tackle by Gary Breen to stop Josh Scott when the Daggers' striker broke clear on the counter attack.
But it was mostly all Barnet in the first half and John O'Flynn should have done better when he broke the offside trap only to let himself down with a heavy touch on the ball and Roberts was able to smother his shot easily.
Yannick Bolasie was causing the Daggers' defence all sorts of trouble and on 20 minutes he set Kenny Gillet free on the left with a superb touch. Gillet got to the line and cut back a fine cross for Paul FURLONG to hammer his shot home past Roberts from close range to give the home side a deserved 1-0 lead.
The visitors, captained by former Bee, Mark Arber, had looked quite poor early on but following Furlong's goal, they began to play a bit more football. However, it was Barnet who came close to scoring again when Bolasie sent over a superb cross that evaded the Daggers' defence, but O'Flynn's shot was well saved by Roberts. Soon after, a cross from Micah Hyde evaded everyone in the penalty area and the chance went begging.
Dagenham tried to make an impression on the game and a cross from the right was cleared by Hyde. Mark Hughes was then booked for a foul on Scott, before Dagenham created their first real chance of the match when Gillet slipped and let in Paul Benson, but the Daggers' leading scorer, saw his shot saved by Jake Cole and Ismail Yakubu cleared the ball away for a corner.
Two minutes of time was added on at the end of the first half and in the first minute, Yannick Bolasie was brought down by Dagenham defender, Scott Doe in the penalty area and the referee awarded Barnet a penalty. It was a clumsy tackle and Bolasie seemed to be heading away from the goal, but it was a clear penalty. John O'FLYNN stepped up and placed the ball to the left of Roberts to send Barnet 2-0 up just before half time. It was certainly a deserved lead as most of the football had come from the Bees against a frankly quite poor away side.
HT: Bees 2 Daggers 0
The second half did not really live up to the first, at least from a Barnet perspective. It looked very much as though Ian Hendon had instructed his team to close the game up in the second half, as the Bees seemed happy to let Dagenham have much of the possession but at the same time restrict them mainly to long shots.
Dagenham started better than they had in the first half and a run by Benson on the right took him to the goal line and his cross caused trouble in the Bees' defence but the ball was scrambled away.
Peter Gain saw a shot from outside the area comfortably saved by Jake Cole, but mainly, Cole had little to do for all Dagenham's possession. One negative was that both Micah Hyde and Ismail Yakubu were booked, though it was a match in which it could hardly be said that Barnet's play warranted three bookings. Dagenham brought on Graeme Montgomery and Wesley Thomas in place of Danny Green and Josh Scott.
The home side created little in the second half but with a 2-0 cushion they didn't really have to. The closest they came to a third goal was when Micah Hyde saw his swivelled shot fly just over the bar from Adomah's cross.
Dagenham's, Scott Doe was booked before he was substituted by Abu Ogogo, who had a spell on loan at Underhill last season. Barnet brought on Elliott Charles and Albert Jarrett for Bolasie and O'Flynn as the game rather fizzled out. Four minutes of added time were awarded and just before the end, Dagenham were unlucky to see Gain's fine shot from outside the penalty area skim the top of the bar. However, Barnet held on to keep a clean sheet and take the three points with a much improved performance. Other results on the night mean that Barnet remain 8th, but just two points now separate the teams between 2nd and 8th. It certainly makes a change looking at how the top teams have done rather than worrying how far down the table we might have fallen!! Long may it continue.
Barnet Mad, Bees' Player of the Match: Yannick Bolasie
Barnet; Cole; Devera, Yakubu, Breen, Gillet; Adomah, Hughes, M Hyde, Bolasie (Jarrett 80); Furlong, O'Flynn (Charles 83)
D&R: Roberts; Doe (Ogogo 75), Arber,
Attendance: 2093
