Barnet 0 Exeter City 1.
Saturday 25 October 2008.

Exeter City fans of a younger age could be forgiven for getting nosebleeds when they look a the League 2 table. Unbeaten in sevenCity now sit proudly in thirdjust three points off the top spot thanks to this hard-fought victory against a dogged Barnet side. On paper this was not an easy tie for the Grecianswith Barnet finally finding a small bit of form, most recently drawing with league leaders WycombeIn the pastthis was exactly the type of game City would stutter in, but some solid defending and a quick smash-and-grab raid in the second half gave Exeter the win by the narrowest of margins. Exeter started brightly, with Adam Stansfield harrying a slow Barnet back line at every opportunity - no cause was ever lost for the striker and on more than one occasion his persistence brought corners or the opportunity for Matt Gill to launch one of his trademark long throws into the Beesbox. It was from these corners that City had to great chances to take the leadFirst Dean Moxey, clearly inspired by Matt Gill earlier in the week, looped a wicked corner into that area that swung straight towards goal and had the Barnet keeper scrambling to tip the ball away. Then came an even better chance as Danny Seaborne was allowed all the time in the world to rise and meet the corner kickbut the centre-half couldn't direct his header and it sailed over the bar. With Barnet finding it hard to get any rhythm going, City were creating space on the ballwith Steve Tully in particular making some surging runs down the right flank, but when Exeter's next chance came it was the result of the old-fashioned route one method. An aimless punt upfield from Barnet was headed clear by Seaborne, who got plenty of power on the headerThe ball looped over the flat-footed Barnet defence, allowing Stansfield to race between the two centre-halves for a one-on-one with the keeper, but the striker snatched at the shot and the ball ended up going well wide. About ten minutes later, another chance presented itself to Paul Tisdale's men, but again left the fans wondering how City weren't in frontA glorious ball from the left channel from Marcus Stewart found Richard Logan in acres of space. His shot drew a regulation save from Lee Harrison in the Barnet goal, but Logan's follow up looked for all the world as if it was headed for the back of the net, but somehow Harrison managed to block and divert it away from danger. Stansfield then squeezed another follow-up in from a tight angle, but saw it cannon off the post and out of play. With Exeter missing several great chances, Barnet started to see more f the ball and worked themselves into several good positions, but bar one shot that was skied over the bar when it was easier to score, Paul Jones and his defence were equal to everything the Bees could throw at city. At  half-time, you sensed Barnet were the happier team to go in level. The second half quickly became more cagey, with Bamet making more effort to close down City, resulting in some rushed passes and for they most part, a rather unsightly midfield battle that produced few chances as both sides worked hard to cancel each other out. With Stansfield having run himself into the ground, Ben Watson was introduced to give the tiring Barnet centre-haves something extra to think about and the ex-Grays striker played his part well by holding up the ball and harrying the defence, allowing Stewart, Logan and Cozic to find space to run into. It was Watson's work than eventually led to City's first and only goal of the game. A clever free kick from Rob Edwards saw Watson chase down the ball in the left-channel Following support from Moxey and Stewart, Watson worked himself into a shooting position, only to see his effort saved. Stewart then smartly pulled the loose ball back across goal into the path of the onrushing Gill to smash home from a few yards out and continue his fine run of goalscoring form. From this point on, it was very much backs to the wall as Barnet came back at City and very nearly scored when Adomah cut in from the right wing but fired wide. City sat keeper with only Watson offering an outlet, but even through Barnet were applying more pressure than they had done for the whole of the rest of the match, the defence- especially the magnificent Seaborne were equal to everything the Bees could throw at City and Jones' goal didn't look like being breached. This perhaps was not the most commanding or attractive win Exeter will record all seasonbut it was a battling. gutsy performance that City will need to produce from time to time if they're to stay in contention at the topAnd, on the basis of this game, they could be well equipped to do so. Seaborne was outstanding in the centre of defence, winning every header with easeTully, too, looked like a player in high confidence and more than once the right- back was in the right place at the right time to break down dangerous-looking attacks. The defence were also thankful to Logan and Stewart who were willing to track back and assist the full-backs, as well as offer an attacking outlet and both had very unselfish games, while up front first Stansfieldthen Watson ensure the Barnet back-line couldn't switch off for a moment. City proved the can turn on the style but also roll up their sleeves and get stuck in so far, it's proving to be a winning formula. Paul Jones and his defence were equal to anything Barnet could throw at them.


BBC Match Summary and Information