Burton Albion 1
Barnet 0
Attendance – 2050
Jacques Maghoma’s penalty after just two minutes gave Burton Albion a 1-0 win over Barnet at the Pirelli Stadium.
The midfielder was tripped by Barry Fuller, who escaped further punishment, before stepping up to smash the kick past Graham Stack who went the wrong way.
The Bees responded well and on another day they could have taken all three points with Andy Iro, Ibra Sekajja and Harry Crawford all going close.
The home side raced out of the blocks and almost captalised on a Stack error after the keeper’s attempted clearance was charged down by Calvin Zola.
Just one minute later Maghoma burst into the box between David Stephens and Fuller with the latter bringing him down for a penalty.
Despite interest from Zola, who skied a penalty last season against the Bees, Maghoma opted to take the kick sending Stack the wrong way to make it 1-0.
With five minutes gone the Bees had a golden opportunity for an instant reply but Andy Iro headed straight at Stuart Tomlinson from Mark Bryne’s cross.
After a poor start Barnet began to dominate and they had another chance after eleven minutes when Holmes exchanged the ball with Sekajja before shooting wide.
The Bees continued to press but the Brewers almost doubled their advantage on the break when Billy Kee turned Iro before curling a shot just wide of the post.
With eight minutes remaining before half-time the ball fell to Sekejja six-yards out but the youngster fired wide after fine build-up play from Holmes.
Both sides created chances early in the second-half with Zola heading wide before Sekajja did the same just one minute later.
As the half wore on the home side began to press in search of a second goal that would surely seal the win.
Adam Drury, Burton’s stand out player, nutmegged Elliot Johnson and crossed to Kee who bundled the ball wide of the target.
Seconds later Kee almost turned provider when he let the ball roll to Zola who was unable to hit the target from 12-yards out.
With 18 minutes remaining Crawford, who joined from Dartford, made his Barnet debut replacing Curtis Weston as the Bees continued to press for an equaliser.
The forward almost scored with his first touch but despite a fine turn his shot flew inches past the post as Burton held on to take all three points.
Next up for the Bees is a third consecutive match on the road on Friday night when they take on Bristol Rovers who beat Rotherham United 3-1.
Burton Albion: Tomlinson, Diamond, Weir, Zola (Dyer 80), McCory, Maghoma, O’Connor, Bell, Sharps, Drury, Kee (Paternson 66).
Subs not used: Webster, Stanton, McGrath, Lyness, Phillips.
Barnet Football Club: Stack, Fuller, Bryne, Holmes, Yiadom (Kamdjo 84), Weston (Crawford 72), Johnson, Stephens, Oster, Iro, Sekajja.
Subs not used: Brown, Kamdjo, Lee, Gambin, Cowler, Holwijn.
