Bees edge Carlisle cracker

2:46am Sunday 17th October 2004

Carlisle United 1 Barnet 3 . . .

Barnet manager Paul Fairclough praised both players and fans after the Bees ended Carlisle's unbeaten record in front of the second highest gate in Conference history.

Fairclough and the 9,215 crowd were treated to a cracker at Brunton Park this afternoon and the Bees boss said: "This was a great advert for the Conference and an amazing game of football in front of an amazing crowd.

"I'm very proud of my young players and the fans."

He added: "Sides that come up here get intimidated but we were determined that would not happen to us. We decided we would be bold and went at them from the start and got our reward."

The plan certainly worked. Within two minutes Barnet were gifted a penalty when Lee Andrews was judged to have handled as he tried to chest down an innocuous Richard Graham chip into the box.

Ian Hendon stepped up to slot the penalty into the corner.

It set the tone for a pulsating first half.

Barnet were in full flight and Dwane Lee forced keeper Matt Glennon to push over a rasping drive from a tight angle before the home side's first chance came on 15 minutes, Scott Tynan pushing out Magno Vieira's fierce shot from the edge of the area.

Dean Sinclair should have added a second three minutes later after being slipped through by Nicky Bailey but he drilled the ball over.

Vieira was then freed down the right and, with Tynan racing out to close him down, went for the lob from a tight angle and only just saw it bounce wide of the far post.

It was end-to-end stuff but Barnet were still the better team and were rewarded with a second on the half-hour. Sinclair's low cross appeared to be deliberately left by the incoming Bailey at the near post with the result a surprised Kevin Gray, with the ball at his feet, could only turn it into his own net from close range.

The game continued to switch from end to end, but the Cumbrians grabbed a lifeline a minute before the break when Chris Lumsdon slipped in Brendan McGill. Tynan blocked his initial attempt but the ball bounced back off the United player and rolled into the net.

The home side were lifted by their good fortune and started the second half as though they meant business.

Tynan did well to hold a stinging Tom Cowan volley before Hendon drove over at the other end after being set up by a defence-splitting ball from Lee.

Sinclair was next to be denied by a Glennon block after a lovely move involving Hendon and Ben Strevens.

At the other end Tynan blocked Karl Hawley when he looked odds on to score and then pushed over a fierce Vieira drive.

Hawley finally beat Tynan on 63 minutes but Hendon got back to clear off the line.

Tynan's final save came 15 minutes from time and it again proved crucial. Chris Billy was only yards out when McGill's cross reached him but the Barnet keeper produced another brilliant block.

Within four minutes Simon Clist curled in a corner and the unmarked Lee headed into the top corner to seal another memorable win.

BARNET (4-4-2): Tynan; Hendon, King, Yakubu, Clist; Bailey, Sinclair, Lee, Graham; Strevens, Roache. Subs not used: Millard, Maddix, Lopez, McBean, Batt.

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