Furlong's 200th Stings unlucky Cherries

With Grimsby & Chester also losing today, today was a pretty big chance to move 7 points clear. As it turned out, we`re still very much in the mire, but on any other day, we`d have done more than enough to get 3 points. Barnet as a place, appeared thoroughly unprepared for football in general, the sheer volume of Bournemouth support meaning most of the car parks were full, & a nightmare to get out of, & the closest pub to the ground was so full it ran out of pint glasses, change & beer! Now it should be said, that Underhill is one of the more "traditional" grounds in the league, & despite its slope & small size, I actually quite liked Underhill, as it reminded me of the first games I saw during the 90`s peeking over the fence at DC. Said "old school" feel, although leading to a fantastic atmosphere, does not result in a good view of the pitch, so please correct any errors in the report as more than once action occurred behind a pillar!

Onto the game.... & Bournemouth started very well, holding all the early possession , forcing a couple of corners & keeping Barnet firmly pinned into their own half, it was only 12 minutes in when a superb cross saw Bradbury rise higher than the defence to head onto the bar, & he was very unlucky not to score. After the initial flurry however, Bournemouth`s challenge fizzled out & we were treated to a sloppy 15 minutes, with neither side really troubling the keepers, or managing to string more than a few passes together. It was another 15 minutes before the first half really began to produce some chances. A very sloppy Barnet headed back pass gave Brett Pitman, a good, but very hard chance on the stretch, & he did well to hit the target & force a superb point blank save from Cole, the Barnet Keeper. From the ensuing corner Pearce rose above the defence, but his looping header was cleared off the line, albeit quite easily, but few would argue that Bournemouth hadn`t deserved at least one goal from the opening half hour.

The rest of the half was played out in quite a mediocre fashion, as Bournemouth sat back a little & allowed Barnet to come onto them. Barnet`s attacks were very limited, & in the main were headed away having come from long balls from midfield. Bournemouth weren`t much better though, & the quality of our passing from remained well below average throughout the whole match.

The half ended without Jalal having made a save, & the only other point of interest in the first half was the refereeing. A look at the book will make you think Bournemouth played in a similar fashion to Leeds or Millwall, but in reality, thought the referee was at least partially responsible for the disjointed last 15 minutes, as almost every Bournemouth foul was penalised with a card, & he was generally extremely picky, (at one point in the second half he gave 2 foul throws in a row) which made it extremely hard for either side to get any kind of momentum.

HT 0-0.

In the second half Barnet came out far stronger, & dominated the first few minutes. It only took 6 minutes before the break-through, When Paul FURLONG outmuscled Pearce to head a diagonal cross into the far corner, for his 200th Career goal. This was Barnet`s first real chance of the game, & gave them on balance a thoroughly undeserved lead. It didn`t take long before Bournemouth were threatening again though, A Brett Pitman free kick sent Coles sprawling along the floor to make a save, & from the ensuing corner Bournemouth really troubled the Barnet defence, & the play culminated in Goulding sticking out a leg from an incredibly crowded box, & his contact looped the ball over the keeper, for what looked a certain equaliser until one of Barnet`s back line threw himself under the ball to clear it off the line.

By now though, the referee was handing out bookings like Christmas cards, & it meant the rest of the game was a rather stale affair; Bournemouth`s understandable hesitation in the tackle was seized upon by Barnet who began linking passes down the wings, & after a superb Mazy run, cutting in from the right Wing, Furlong forced a cracking save from Jalal as his bullet of a shot was headed for the top right hand corner.

For the last push, Eddie introduced Fletcher & Igoe for Goulding & Feeney, & the game plan then seemed to be mainly based on long balls to Fletch`s head, with somewhat underwhelming results. If Neil Dawson was there today I`m sure he`d have something to say about it, as no amount of slick hold up play & nice touches from Fletch could break through the Bees defence, as they were clearly quite happy with a single goal, & were playing with large numbers of men behind the ball. In the dying seconds Bournemouth almost pinched a point. Some intricate passing along the edge of the area eventually sent the ball bobbling through to Bradbury, but his snap shot was stifled by Coles who had rushed out in a flash to save Barnet once again. I actually thought he was man of the match today, it was a faultless performance. Guyett had been introduced on the Right wing, but only one cross came from his short spell, & the game fizzled out after a frantic 4 minutes injury time with Barnet running out very narrow victors.

Player Ratings.

Jalal. 7. Although Furlongs header had very little pace on it, it was extremely well directed, & as such he was pretty helpless. Kicking was much improved but not perfect, & he made a superb save from a Furlong Thunderbolt.

Wiggins. 5.5 Distribution seemed off today, & the attacking runs we`d become used to were completely missing.

Garry. 6 Solid but very unspectacular. Very little stood out, & marshalled his man quite effectively.

Pearce. 6 Out muscled for the goal but otherwise managed fairly well. Passing & communication were well below his usual high standards.

Cooper. 5 Didn`t really get forward in support of the wingers & was largely out of the game. His skill is wasted at right back in my opinion.

Feeney. 4 I can`t think of a single cross that didn`t end up in the stands, & his marker managed him with ease at times. Quite rightly subbed in the second half.

Holands. 5 booked for dissent & as result stayed out of the game to avoid a repeat of Rotherham. Like most in the team today, interplay & passing were decidedly poor.

Robinson. 4 Completely anonymous, hardly seemed to touch the ball & got rid of it quickly, & backwards when he did.

Bradbury. 4.5 Not a winger, but a good effort considering. Frequent passing errors marred an otherwise OK performance.

Goulding. 7 (MOM) Not a fantastic performance by any means & the fact he was probably the best player today sums up how average AFCB were. He was however undoubtedly our best attacking threat & hit the bar & had a shot cleared off the line.

Pitman. 5. Mr Hyde today, anonymous & largely out of the game. Well marshalled by the Bees back line.

Subs.

Igoe 5 Couldn`t settle on the ball & frequently wasteful. Took a shot from 30 yards late on when he had a number of good options.

Fletch. 6 Limited by poor refereeing, but held up the ball well when he got it. IMO a poor sub to bring on when Barnet were putting men behind the ball.

Guyett. Not really enough time to tell but tried very hard out of position. Good low cross was about the sum of his efforts though.

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