Brilliant Bulls see off Bees
4:11pm Thursday 17th February 2005
Barnet 0 Hereford United 2 . . .
"The best team won by a mile."
That was the frank assessment of Barnet manager Paul Fairclough after a disappointing performance at Underhill this afternoon.
A Danny Carey-Bertram strike ten minutes before the interval and a 90th-minute Adam Stansfield effort gave the Bulls a deserved win.
Fairclough said: "If it had stayed 1-0 to Hereford it would have been an injustice.
"They just played us off the park."
He added: "Once they weathered the early storm, they were superb, absolutely magnificent.
"It is difficult to assess our performance in a game like that, when we have been dominated by the opponents."
The Bees started brightly enough, but, in a second half in which they were forced to chase the game, managed just one effort on goal. The Bulls, in contrast, could have added even more to their score and thoroughly deserved their late second.
Both sides almost scored bizarre own goals in the first ten minutes of the match. A Simon Clist corner was headed on to the top of the bar by a Hereford defender, while, minutes later, Nicky Bailey sliced a corner over his own bar.
Simon King had a shot deflected wide, while Scott Tynan had to be alert to save low at his near post to keep out a Danny Williams drive.
Dwane Lee then teed up Bailey on the edge of the box after a fine run, but the midfielder drove well over.
Hereford began to take control after an even first half-hour and deserved their opener. Williams fed Carey-Bertram down the left after a quick free-kick was taken in the wrong place and the in-form striker slipped the ball under the advancing Tynan.
Richard Graham had Barnet's only chance after the break, but Craig Mawson pushed out his snapshot four minutes after the restart.
The Bees had plenty of possession but Hereford looked far more threatening and carved out some great chances on the break. Craig Stanley missed two great opportunities within minutes and Carey-Bertram shot straight at Tynan on the volley.
Barnet never looked like equalising and Stansfield burst through in the dying stages to round Tynan and blast the ball into the empty net.
BARNET (4-4-2): Tynan; Hendon, Clist, Charles, King; Bailey, Lee, Sinclair, Graham (Lopez 80); Grazioli, Hatch (Strevens 76). Subs not used: Gore, Elmes, Champion.
Attendance: 2,668.