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Barnet suffered defeat at Underhill on Tuesday evening after Alan Buckley's Grimsby Town side came away with a 1-0 victory against the Bees.
Barnet made just the one change to the starting line-up with the suspended Ian Hendon replaced by Joe Devera.
Both sides started the game in tentative fashion and the first shot of the game did not come about until the 11th minute when Barnet's Barry Cogan struck wide from 25 yards after an initial Nicky Bailey corner kick was cleared.
A minute later and it was again the Bees who were threatening in attack when a left wing cross from Bees left back Adam Gross was glanced on by Adam Birchall, but the strikers effort went wide of Paul Barnes' left hand post.
It was the home side who continued to look the brighter in attack and they again went close in the 18th minute when Jason Puncheon received the ball on the Bees left following a fine Nicky Bailey pass and he strode forward before sending his low strike the wrong side of Barnes' post.
At the other end Grimsby had their first effort of the game in the 20th minute when Peter Till's right hand cross was flicked on by Gary Jones before Anthony Pulis saw his flicked effort from over his shoulder well held by Barnet goalkeeper Lee Harrison.
Puncheon then saw another effort from distance go wide for Barnet six minutes later ,but it was disaster for Barnet moments later when a quick free kick by Tony Newey found Nick Hegarty who in turn found Martin Paterson who rounded Harrison before placing the ball into the empty net to give the Mariners a 28th minute lead.
Nicky Bailey looked for a quick response for Barnet but his low strike from all of 25 yards was well held by Barnes, whilst Puncheon saw an effort from a similar distance in the 36th minute drift well wide of Barnes' right hand post.
Three minutes before half time and Barnet created their best chance of the game, and it was that man Puncheon who was again the creator when he received the ball on the left wing from Gross before his deep cross to the far post was met by Hatch, but the strikers head went just over Barnes' crossbar.
Grimsby began the second half the brighter of the two sides with Nick Fenton heading a Ricky Ravenhill corner just wide in the 53rd minute.
Three minutes later and the Bees were denied an equaliser when Nicky Bailey's free header from 12 yards, following an in-swinging Puncheon corner, was cleared off of the line by Tony Newey with Simon King only able to volley the follow up effort from 15 yards wide of a post.
The Bees continued to push forward, although they were struggling to retain possession of the ball, and only a weak Hatch header and an ambitious long range effort from Birchall were the only efforts Barnes had to deal with as the game reached the hour mark.
Paul Fairclough made a double substitution in the 68th minute when Magno Vieira and Richard Graham replaced Adam Gross and Barry Cogan as the Bees looked to get something out of the game by reverting to a 3-4-3 formation.
Puncheon saw an effort go wide in the 76th minute as the Bees continued to push forward without much luck before Harrison did well by twice denying efforts from Till as the Bees were outnumbered at the back as Grimsby broke quickly.
Straight down the other and Graham went past three players before seeing his powerful effort from the left of the penalty area pushed away by Barnes before Harrison did well once more to block a Paterson effort with Yakubu doing well to clear the ball from his own goal line as the ball spun viciously off of the Barnet goalkeepers torso.
With nine minutes to go Grimsby came within inches of going further ahead when Paterson beat Yakubu before seeing his effort cannon off of a post before going behind for a goal kick whilst Paul Warhurst entered the action in place of Hatch in attack.
The Referee added on three minutes of injury time, and in the second of the allotted added time, another Puncheon shot, this time after cutting in from the right channel, was again pushed away by Barnes.
In the dying seconds Harrison even came up for a late corner kick, but even the Bees custodian could only direct his half chance wide as the Referee signalled the end of the game to send the Mariners home happy and the Bees away feeling quite the opposite emotions.
Attendance: 1588
Away: 321
By Jonathan Sugar

















