When you get into a situation when you are 3-0 down and playing away from home whatever you do in the rest of the match you are unlikely to be able to turn the game in your favour.

It can be done, and there have been a few occasions when teams have come back from such deficits, but the fact that you tend to remember them is an indication that they are so few and far between.

And so for a variety of reasons the Bees found themselves three goals down at Accrington on Saturday. The home side had not started in confident mood; they themselves had suffered a 3-0 reversal at home just a few days previous which had put that at the bottom of the table.

The home side did not carve out opportunities for themselves, they had not outplayed Barnet, but somehow they had established a commanding lead.

Elliot Johnson had given the Bees hope just before half-time with a volley from close range and few could argue that with a second-half bombardment Barnet didn’t  deserve a draw out of this fixture – a crisp shot from keeper Graham Stack had looked goal-bound – but the Bees ran out of time and luck.

The Accrington manager might differ though and he felt his side had thoroughly deserved their victory. 

From his vantage point he would probably argue that his side had taken their opportunities and had defended sufficiently well to maintain their lead, albeit an increasingly slender one.

Barnet could have won this match and had they not have allowed the home side to establish such a huge early lead probably would have done. 

But the Bees made the task so difficult for themselves that it was the Accy fans who were cheering at the final whistle and the hard evidence provided by the scoreline ultimately cannot be contested.