Bees earn a point on return to League

6:28pm Saturday 6th August 2005

Barnet 1 Bristol Rovers 1 . . .

Barnet came within a whisker of claiming three deserved points on their return to the Football League.

Former Bee Junior Agogo struck with two minutes to go to earn Rovers a point.

Richard Graham had put the hosts ahead ten minutes earlier following a mix-up in the visitors' defence.

But Barnet manager Paul Fairclough was satisfied with the point and the performance.

He said: "I'm so so proud of my players today. I thought they were absolutely magnificent.

"Anyone here today would have seen that my team will have a lot to say on what goes on in this league this season."

He added: "We have worked hard to get in this league and we are going to enjoy ourselves. I believe the best is yet to come.

"The players are absolutely gutted. They know they really won the game and maybe that is a lesson to us. We will learn from it."

Fairclough described it as a 1-1 slaughter. Indeed, Rovers had not troubled keeper Scott Tynan until their late equaliser.

It was all Barnet from the first whistle. Dean Sinclair had two early efforts for the home side. He was slipped in by Graham with just two minutes on the clock, but saw the keeper tip over his shot. The midfielder then drilled an effort across goal and past the upright as the Bees began to get a grip on the game.

Craig Disley shot wide at the other end on 19 minutes, but that was the Pirates' only effort of a one-sided half.

Barnet almost broke the deadlock just before the interval when Dwane Lee found Giuliano Grazioli at the back post, but the striker's header from a tight angle was hacked off the line.

It was much the same after the break and no surprise when the Bees finally struck on 77 minutes. An Ismail Yakubu punt forward caused havoc in the opposition box and, with the visiting keeper committed, the ball rolled out wide to Graham who steered it back towards goal with his left foot. It was not the best shot he had ever hit, but it still somehow eluded two defenders on the line.

But all the hard work was undone ten minutes later. Ryan Williams floated a cross over to the unmarked Agogo who headed past Tynan with what was his side's first effort on target.

BARNET (4-5-1): Tynan; Hendon, King, Yakubu, Charles; Bailey, Lee, Sinclair, Graham, Strevens (Hatch 88); Grazioli (Norville 86). Subs not used: Flitney, Gross, Soares.

Attendance: 3,237.

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