Nationwide Conference
Saturday, 22 February 3:00pm

Report by Callum Williams
Pictures by Chris Holland

INJURIES and Mark Gower’s suspension meant that Barnet fielded a much-changed side for Saturday’s visit of Scarborough, which saw the Bees notch up their first home win of 2003.

Wayne Purser and Frazer Toms slotted into the midfield vacancies left by Gower and Danny Brown, while Toby Oshitola came in to partner Junior Agogo upfront in place of Neil Midgley.

Barnet’s first attack saw them win a well-worked free-kick from which Purser’s deflected effort was scrambled clear by visiting keeper Leigh Walker leading to the first of the Bees’ 18 corners.

After doing most of the pressing, Barnet took the lead on 23 minutes when the impressive Jason Soloman met a Purser corner with a sweetly struck volley that gave Walker no chance.

Although Barnet dominated most of the first half, Scarborough’s Cleveland Taylor came within inches of levelling the scores with a 35-yard effort that just cleared the crossbar with keeper Danny Naisbitt back-pedalling.

Barnet always appeared in control in the first period, but there were concerns among the crowd that another goal was needed.

Second Half

Craig Pope replace Ismail Yakabu in the Barnet midfield for the start of the second half, which was only 11 minutes old when John Doolan settled the Bees’ fans nerves with his side’s second goal.

He picked up a loose ball side-stepped a Scarborough midfielder and pulled back his left foot to score with a cracking low drive from 30 yards, which must be another contender for goal of the season.

This effectively ended any further Scarborough hopes of salvaging anything from the game, which was put further beyond their reach after 67 minutes when a flurry of Barnet corners ended with Soloman flicking on at the near post for Oshitola to rise majestically at the far post to nod down into the net.

From then on the game fizzled out, although Soloman did seal his man-of-the-match credentials with a fine last-ditch tackle to keep the Scarborough scoreline blank.

Once again, Barnet’s up and down season took a step in the right direction at the expense of a team, which is riding high in the league, despite crippling financial worries.

Pictures

Above - Martin 'Mad Dog' Allen shows his fundemental misunderstandings about the purpose of the lino's flag.

Above - Doolan celebrates his goal.

The rest of the team celebrate a goal.

Barnet

J.Doolan, 37, unsporting behaviour
F.Toms, 73, unsporting behaviour

Scarborough

G.Stoker, 67, unsporting behaviour
M.Sillah, 74, unsporting behaviour

Teams

Barnet

D.Naisbitt, I.Yakabu (C.Pope 46), L.Pluck, G.Heald, J.Doolan, J.Soloman, L.Flynn, F.Toms, J.Agogo, T.Oshitola, W.Purser

Unused subs: L.Baimass, B.Wiper, R.Millard, C.Cashman,

Scarborough

L.Walker, P.Dempsey, D.Holdsworth, P.Shepherd, M.Hotte, Taylor, G.Stoker, A.Ormerod, Hall (M.Sillah 46), D.Pounder, Cohen

Unused subs: G.Downey, Downey

Other Reports

BBC
Nationwide Conference
Seadogs Online (Official site seemed to be down on Sunday morning.)

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