There was allot of anticipation before the game due to the fact that Barnet manager Mark Stimson was facing the team that he took too, and then got relegated from League 1 with. It was also a highly anticipated return to Underhill for Andy Hessenthaler, now Gillingham manager, and his assistant Ian Hendon, who got sacked as Barnet manager with just two games remaining of last season with Barnet in huge danger of relegation out of the Football League.
Barnet thought that they should have had an early penalty when Mark Marshall was seemingly pulled down in the penalty area by Gillingham captain, Barry Fuller, only for the referee to wave away the home sides protests.
Although it was the home side that actually went on to take the lead, it was Gillingham who then dominated the next period of the match. The Kent side went agonizingly close to taking the lead with the first real chance of the match after 22 minutes, but Chris Whelpdale’s shot from 15 yards out went agonizingly wide of the goal; with some fans in the stadium thinking the ball had actually gone in.
Gillingham went even closer after half an hour when Whelpdale again got his shot past Bees keeper Jake Cole, only for the goal bound effort to be spectacularly cleared off the line by Anwar Uddin.
It was Barnet who were the team who eventually did take the lead. Mark Marshall went on a great run down the left hand side before cutting in to the penalty area before pulling the ball back for Kevin Kallen, who had the easy task of scuffing the ball into the net to make the Barnet fans jubilant.
The Bees were hoping that they could sting their opponents even further in the second half and almost did soon after Gillingham re-started. Jordan Parkes went on a surging run inside his own penalty area before getting within shooting range, but the exciting, young left back saw his shot acrobatically parried away by Alan Julian.
Unfortunately for Barnet, it wasn’t long before the Gills got their equalizer. Big boned Adebayo Akinfenwa found himself with time and space with the ball at his feat, before rolling the ball into the penalty area for Chris Whelpdale who riffled the shot into the net via the finger tips of Jake Cole who could do little about the stinging shot.
Gillingham soon took the lead just 6 minutes later. Another Peterborough United loanee, Charlie Lee, was allowed to run at the Barnet defence which, as it has done various times already this season, parted like the Red Sea, before Lee could stoke the ball into the bottom left hand corner. It was a cruel blow for Barnet who were hoping to build on the thumping 4-1 win at Underhill against Northampton last Saturday.
Barnet manager Mark Stimson brought on Izale McLeod for his home debut 67 minutes into the match with goal scorer Kevin Gallen being replaced. Unfortunately, McLeod couldn’t capitalize after he found the ball at his feat after a Grant Basey shot was saved by Alan Julian before a defender nicked the ball off the former MK Dons player’s foot.
Gillingham almost got further in front a few minutes later when Akinfenwa nodded the ball down for Cody McDonald whose half volley was in the end comfortably saved by Jake Cole.
The Gills could manage to hold on to all 3 points. After 35 games without a win away from home spanning a period of over one and a half years, Gillingham have managed to now get two away wins in four days thanks to wins at Oxford’s Kassam Stadium, and now Underhill.
Gillingham have climbed up to 16th place whilst Barnet remain second bottom, two points behind Northampton Town, yet only a solitary point ahead of bottom side Hereford. Due to Barnet’s very unfortunate defeat in the F.A. Cup against Charlton, the Bee’s next game is away at Oxford on December 4th, before a Herts Senior Cup game at Hadley FC a few days after that.
Man of the Match: Kevin Gallen
