Following an engrossing penalty shoot-out victory over League One Brentford, Barnet advanced to the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Southern area final to continue their march towards Wembley. Despite the harsh reality of being knocked out on penalties, you get the impression that Brentford could only have themselves to blame as they squandered various opportunities during the 90 minutes to have booked a meeting with Swindon Town in the area final.
After coming up short in last year’s final, Brentford controlled the majority of the match but couldn’t find a way past their London rivals. Dean Brill saved brilliantly to deny Clayton Donaldson at the start of the second half and quickly thwarted Marcus Bean to keep the Bees on level terms. Brentford’s inability to turn chances into goals gave Barnet cause for optimism as they gradually began to match their League One opponents and cause problems of their own. Mark Marshall flashed a shot wide to suggest Barnet were able to threaten every now and again. The host’s were definitely finishing the stronger of the two sides, top scorer Izale Mcleod could have won the tie for the North London side in the dying embers of added time as his drive narrowly bounced the wrong side of the far post.
Barnet took the momentum they had built up into the Shoot-out; Mark Hughes, Ricky Holmes, Sam Deering, Mcleod and Danny Senda all converted with aplomb to pile the pressure onto the visitors. The unfortunate Jonathan Douglas missed the decisive kick for Brentford to put Barnet into the area final with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win. The victory means that the Bees will now face a two-legged area final against Paolo Di Canio’s Swindon who overcame League Two leaders Southend at Roots Hall.
No comments:
Post a Comment