Bees sink Vics to go joint top

6:32pm Saturday 28th August 2004

Barnet 4 Northwich Victoria 0 . . .

Barnet boss Paul Fairclough hailed his troops after this comfortable victory, but insisted it could have been more.

Goals from Ian Hendon, Dean Sinclair, Liam Hatch and Giuliano Grazioli saw the Bees to a comfortable win against the ten-man Vics. It puts them joint top of the table this evening.

Fairclough said: "If I was going to be critical, we gave them (Northwich) too many opportunities.

"But I'm delighted with the number of chances we created ourselves. It could have been and should have been more."

The visitors did indeed carve out some useful openings, but they were still well beaten.

They gave Barnet a fright in the eighth minute, however, when Paul Brayson was allowed to rifle in a 20-yard shot that came back off the post.

But within five minutes Hatch beat his marker down the left and cut inside before curling a shot against the visitors' woodwork.

These two efforts set the tome for what was to be an open and entertaining game.

But it was Barnet who began to create the better opportunities. Grazioli almost scored a goal similar to his winner at Halifax, but on this occasion his 25-yard volley was tipped over.

Two minutes later his shot on the turn was pushed away by Ben Connell.

The opener came on 36 minutes. Grazioli latched on to an Ian Hendon ball, but he was fouled as he shot and the referee pointed to the spot and showed Peter Handyside, the offending defender, a red card. Hendon made no mistake with the penalty.

Barnet moved into cruise control minutes later when a Richard Graham ball let in Sinclair and he beat Connell at his near post for his first goal for the club.

Barnet continued to dominate after the break. Dwane Lee hit the upright with a header minutes into the second half, though Ricky Millard, in for Shane Gore, did have to make a fine double save at the other end.

The third came on 52 minutes, Graham lifting the ball into the box for Hatch to rise and head home from close in.

Grazioli shot wide when well placed minutes later but finally got on the scoresheet with some 25 minutes to go. Hendon's long throw bounced invitingly and Grazioli, with his back to goal, produced a clever bicycle kick to score from inside the six-yard box.

The Bees eased off in the latter stages, though sub Lee Roache did scramble the ball in with ten minutes to go, only to be denied by the linesman's flag.

BARNET (4-4-2): Millard; Hendon, Plummer, King, Clist; Strevens, Sinclair (Bailey 70), Lee, Graham; Grazioli (Roache 65), Hatch (Dobson 65). Subs not used: Lopez, Briquez.

Attendance: 1,422.

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