Nationwide Conference
27 September 2003

By Callum Williams

THE BARNET bandwagon rolled on as they recorded their fourth straight victory, which took them to third place in the Conference table just two points behind the early pace-setters.

Guiliano Grazioli's 12th goal of the season was enough to send the Bees leap-fogging over their opponents at Gay Meadow on Saturday as they gained arguably their best result of the season so far.

A large and vocal Bees' following in the 4,000-plus crowd was treated to a fine defensive display from the visitors that all but extinguished the threat of Shrews' much-hyped top-scorer Luke Rogers.

Barnet, who started with Guy Lopez in for the injured Lewis Hogg, suffered an early blow when they lost Mark Rooney through injury. But this paved the way for a welcome return for Bees' captain Ian Hendon, coming back after two matches out with back problems.

The Bees had the best chances of a goalless first half with Grazioli hooking over following Peter Beadle's deft head-on and Beadle striking the inside of a post with many visiting fans already celebrating a goal.

Shrewsbury's only real chance of the game came in first-half stoppage time when a swift counter-attack saw Ryan Lowe put his shot into the side netting with only Bees' keeper David Forde to beat.

Second Half

The second half followed much the same pattern as the first with Barnet comfortably soaking up the Shrewsbury pressure and looking dangerous on the break.

The decisive goal came in the 67th minute as the impressive Ismail Yakubu headed back for Grazioli to beat Shrews' keeper Scott Howie with a well-taken shot that had the Barnet faithful, who were- penned in like sheep behind an 8ft high fence, in raptures.

Up against a brick wall of a Barnet defence, Shrewsbury gradually ran out of ideas in the search for an equaliser and even the introduction of their 43-year-old player-manager Jimmy Quinn failed to inspire them.

Their frustration came to a head with the booking of Rogers for one display of petulance too many on an afternoon when he could consider himself lucky not to have seen red for shoulder charging Bees boss Martin Allen into the crowd in a tussle for the ball.

Indeed, Barnet could have increased their lead as Howie produced smart saves from Beadle and Ben Strevens.

Photos

Thirty photos of the game.

Bookings

Barnet

S.King, 61, unsporting behaviour
I.Hendon, 82, timewasting
I.Yakabu, 89, unsporting behaviour

Shrewsbury

L.Rodgers, 87, unsporting behaviour

Teams

Barnet

D.Forde, C.Plummer, D.Maddix, I.Yakabu, M.Rooney (I.Hendon 17), J.Gamble, G.Lopez, B.Strevens, G.Grazioli, M.Williams (S.King 46), P.Beadle

Unused substitutes: T.Taggart, N.Sylla, R.Millard

Shrewsbury

S.Howie, D.Moss (J.Quinn 75), D.Tinson, J.Sedgemore, G.Rioch, K.Murray, S.Aiston (I.Fitzpatrick 89), M.O'Connor (S.Jagielka 66), C.Cramb, L.Rodgers, R.Lowe

Unused substitutes: I.Dunbavin, L.Drysdale

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