FL2: Barnet V Torquay United 26th Jan 2010

Nope - sorry Petef, it seems that they made an adjustment to the scorer of the equaliser!

is that fact or rumour

I think it`s a fact that it`s only a rumour at this stage until the official site confirms it!

I`m even more confused now with this report on the BBC website

"Barnet were grateful for Paul Furlong's 85th-minute own goal as they edged a point further away from the relegation zone with a precious draw with Torquay"

Why would Barnet be grateul for their player scoring an own goal?

Just got in (I only live 6 miles from Underhill) and a quick resume for you before I go to bed for my 3am rise.

Fair result although only one side was going to go on and win it in the second half but that side took so long to equalise it made " winning" that much harder!

First half got off to a slow start with the aparrent back injury to Yukubu bringing things to a halt after 3 minutes and a lengthy delay whilst he was helped off the pitch in obvious distress taking almost two minutes to shuffle to the tunnel after three minutes of treatment. So the game slowly came to life and I was struck immediately by the failure of our two strikers Benyon playing out and out up front and Rendell playing in behind him to get accross their markers and be first to a series of excellent crosses from Thomson. Further evidence of Elliott's continuing "bird brained" approach to the game and I guess Rendell's difficulty in doing so from his rather more delayed arrival in the box from those deeper positions.

That said, the Barnet team seemed confident enough to get the ball down and utilise the excellent Lockwood (needless to say singled out for ricule from the Yellow Army for having "curly hair"/ being old/simply being Lockwood I guess to deliver a series of quality balls into our box at the bottom of the slope.

A miscue by Zebroski on the edge of our area in the left back position led to possession being weekly surrendered and a very good finish into the top left hand corner for what I would say was Barnet's ONLY attempt on target in the entire match as it turned out. This was from a chest down by 41 year old Paul Furlong who along with Lockwood and Gary Breen provided the experience in the young home team all three for the entire ninety minutes!

I thought our delivery out of defence got considerably worse as the half wore on with Mansell and Robertson being the main culprits, whilst Smith and Thomson in particular stood out for their quality and percentage of passes completed successfully. Thompson too did the very job a whole lot better than Hargreaves has done thi season in that he was quick to get his foot in and disrupt the opposition's passing even if sometimes it was merely a touch or a deflection that led to them getting the ball straight back; but he WAS mobile and he WAS effective playing up the hill which doesn't often come easy to visitors to Underhill.

At half time I was mentally screaming out for Benyon to be replaced by Stephens so that Zebs could move up front and partner Rendell, but unfortunately for me, the manager persisted with things as they were; albeit with those two strikers at last getting to the crosses first on more occasions and making better and more thoughtful runs.

Barnet were by now offering absolutley nothing up front and my thinking was that an equaliser would surely lead to a winner and my hopes were raised when at last Stephens DID come on for Benyon and then Cox for Mansell. Thus we now had a proper thinking pair up front and a quality pair of fullbacks (Smith went to right back and Cox to left) delivering nicely weighted and thoughtful balls into feet or space as the occasion demanded and with the pace and quickness of thought to scurry around our big back two to provide more cover than they have surely enjoyed all season.

Don't listen to idiotic concerns about Cox' lack of stature................he's fleet of foot and quick of thought and as sharp as a needle. Can spot a defender who needs cover in a flash and can turn defence into attack in an instant. Another quality arrival in my opinion and one who gives real hope for the future as well as a salutory example to Mansell and his wasteful distribution so that he can sit and learn for a few weeks and hopefully absorb what he is watching.

Time seemed to be running out though as the mist descended and the silent throughout home crowd grew restless ~ unless they were turning over in their sleep ~ ;D

As it was justice was done when Thomson got a chance to amend for a poor delivery of a right wing corner to immediately knock another low cross over and it was Scott Rendell who got his head to it and send the ball into the back of the net, and for the life of me I don't know where this "Furlong O.G." nonsense comes from.

I would estimate we had roughly a quarter of the crowd with a following of around four hundred who were the only ones to make any significent noise all night but only really got behind the team on a few occasions until we did score and even then it was with some disappointment that we heard the final whistle sound for surely a shot to pieces Barnet wouldn't have held out much longer.

You've got to be happy witha point away from home in such an important match, but once the confidence comes back we should be burying sides who perform like Barnet did tongiht.

When we played Benyon and Zebs up front, I was surprised that it was Benyon playing right up and Zebs playing off him rather than vice versa. It is even more surprising that we'd play Benyon and Rendell that way round.