Two Ian Hendon penalties rewarded a hardworking Barnet side with the three points against Notts County on Saturday afternoon.
The Bees skipper, who has only recently returned to the side following a toe injury, calmly slotted home from the spot twice after Paul Fairclough's side went 1-0 behind at the start of the second half.
The Bees Manager, who handed a first start to Paul Warhurst in place of the injured Ismail Yakubu at the centre of defence, handed recalls to Tresor Kandol and Ben Strevens in attack as the Bees switched to a 4-4-2 formation.
The away side began brightly and Michael Edwards shot just over in the opening five minutes.Two minutes later though and the Bees burst into life and nearly broke the deadlock themselves.
Confusion at the back for the Magpies allowed Strevens to steal the ball from Julian Baudet. The ball then broke to Kandol but despite rounding the goalkeeper, the Bees striker could only direct his effort wide.
At the other end, Edwards headed over following find wing play by Nathan Doyle whilst in the 18th minute Vernazza saw his goalbound header from a Bailey corner flick hit Steve Scoffham in the head before clearing to safety.
Baudet then headed over from a long Pipe throw before Rob Ullathorne saw his 25 yard strike sail over ten minutes before the interval.
A minute later, though, and Ross Flitney kept Barnet in the game when he rushed out of his goal quickly to block Daniel Chillingworth's shot. The ball rebounded to Liam Needham but luckily for Barnet, Charles was there to divert his effort away for a corner.
A minute before half time, Strevens had a great chance to score the contests opening goal but his fine effort from a Fuller cross was smartly saved by Kevin Pilkington in the Notts goal.
After an even first half the second period could not have started worse for the Bees when they went behind in the opening minute after the break when a long ball by Doyle found Scoffham who calmly slotted the ball past Flitney to put the Magpies one up.
Two minutes later and Nicky Bailey was denied from taking a strike on goal following a fine last ditch challenge from David Pipe. In the 56th minute, though, the game seemed to swing for the Bees.
Barry Fuller appeared to be elbowed by Baudet and, although the officials failed to spot the incident, the Barnet players were clearly insensed and clearly upped their tempo in the game.
And it didn't take long before the Bees pressure paid off when Hendon was to score the first of his two penalties.
A corner by Bailey in the 63rd minute found the head of Charles, and although Strevens bundled the ball into the net, the referee had already blown his whistle for a penalty kick.
Up stepped the Bees skipper, who had clearly been watching the spectators from IPOP and Mencap take their penalties into the same goal at half time, as he blasted the ball straight down the middle to send the Bees level.
Seven minutes later and the captain was to convert once. Hessenthaler, the Bees 40-year-old midfielder, had raced onto a long Charles pass before he was hacked down in the area by Pipe.
Once more, the Bees skipper made no mistake this time blasting his effort into the top left hand corner of Pilkington's goal.
The final twenty minutes of the game, quite surprisingly, saw little in the away of chances on goal with only Kandol for Barnet and Andy White for Notts County seeing tame efforts go wide.
However, in the final 30 seconds of stoppage time it could all have been so different for Barnet when a short Bailey back pass allowed Stacy Long in but the Magpies substitute saw his effort go high over the Flitney's bar.
Three more points in the bag ... next up Oxford away.
Jonathan Sugar
