Barnet’s four match unbeaten run in the league came to an abrupt end at Morecambe with the home side carving out a 4-1 win for themselves. The damage was done in the opening ten minutes and once two goals adrift it was difficult to see anything other than a home win.
Joint Head Coaches, Edgar Davids and Mark Robson had selected an unchanged side from the XI that had defeated Torquay United on Tuesday night, with Elliot Johnson remaining at left-back but injury was keeping out Ricky Holmes and Collins John from any involvement.
Morecambe certainly opened the brighter and the Bees were soon penned back in their own half. In the early exchanges Morecambe’s forward Lewis Alessandra was prominent for the visitors and it was no great surprise when the Shrimps forged an early lead.
Kevin Ellison got himself into a shooting position on 6 minutes on the edge of the penalty area but his effort benefitted considerably from a deflection off of Krystian Pearce to wrong foot Graham Stack.
The goal itself was fortuitous, but it was hard to deny that the lead was deserved.
On ten minutes Andrew Flemming found himself in too much space inside the penalty area and he had the relatively simple task of finishing from close range.
The Bees then rallied somewhat but it could have been the case that the home side felt they had inflicted sufficient damage on Barnet and then sat back with the game plan of then catching the visitors on the break.
Clovis Kamdjo, who was again having a good match, had two close-range opportunities within seconds on each other just before half-time and Johnson and Davids combined well down the left before the Dutchman delivered a quality centre, but Barnet forays forward were not over-plentiful.
The Bees started the second-half in a more positive frame of mind, with Mark Byrne going close to narrowing the gap; but more often than not it was the Barnet defence that was being asked the questions.
Two questionable penalties awarded in the last ten minutes put the game out of sight and gave the home side a four goal advantage. Both were converted by Richard Brodie.
Jon Nurse did manage to get the ball in the Morecambe net with the last kick but one of the game. Rarely has a goal been less celebrated; although it was a reward for Nurse who had looked both dangerous and composed out on the right wing. His play was polished and he had put some good balls into the danger area from this position. And of course he retains his goalscoring instincts and from out wide he can time his arrivals into the six-yard box.
The Bees now need to rally for the next game, a home fixture against Accrington Stanley on Friday evening (8 o’clock kick-off) and return to the form and show the intensity that has brought a very decent haul of points prior to the game at the Globe Arena.
David Bloomfield
