Match report of this afternoon's home win in the clash against Hereford United
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Coming on the back of three straight defeats Barnet manager Paul Fairclough knew the pressure was on his team to take something for his match and they did the business for their boss.
During the week team captain Ian Hendon had come out publicly and backed his manager, was the intention of quashing speculation about Fairclough's future.
As it turned out Barnet emerged from this match with a comprehensive victory as they totally over-ran Hereford United in the second half to clock up their first victory of the season.
Meanwhile Hereford manager Graham Turner laid into his team's performance calling it unacceptable.
In a largely scrappy first half there were very few chances on goal and far to many stray passes.
But Barnet made the breakthrough in the 28th minute, as Hendon threaded through ball to Giuliano Grazioli and Barnet's forward, recalled to the starting line-up, made no mistake with a well-taken drive which found the bottom corner of the net.
The closest Hereford came to an equaliser was shortly after the break as Stuart Fleetwood left his marker for dead but his shot on target was well saved by Barnet keeper Lee Harrison.
Then in the 62nd minute Barnet extended their league as Nicky Bailey escaped the attention of several Hereford players and was allowed to have a shot on goal which took a deflection and crept into the net.
From there onwards it became a one-sided affair with Barnet taking shots from all kinds of ranges and having several opportunities to make it 3-0.
But they managed to save the best until last as man of the match Jason Puncheon, who had taken astring of shots at the Hereford goal, finally got one on target. From all of the 25 yards out Puncheon curled the ball into the top corner of the net for a stunning strike.
Barnet will be hugely relieved by this victory where as Hereford will struggle to put in a worse performance than this this season. |
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