A goal in the 95th minute consigned the Bees to a defeat when they were only seconds away from securing a point that their resolute and determined performance had warranted.
Barnet were forced into making two changes to their starting line-up. The suspended Ashley Carew was replaced by Max Porter on the right of midfield with Michael Leary coming in for the injured Josh Wright.
When his name was announced Sagi Burton, on his return to his previous club, if not exactly his old stomping ground, was given a warm welcome by the Shrewsbury faithful.
It was from a Burton long throw that Barnet carved out their first opportunity. His throw was flicked on by Liam Hatch to his strike partner Adam Birchall whose effort was saved by Glynn Garner in the Shrewsbury goal.
The home side nearly took the lead midway through the first half when Stuart Nicholson capitalised on a defensive mix up, took the ball wide of Lee Harrison, but saw his effort blocked by the covering Bees defender Joe Devera.
On the half hour Liam Hatch had the ball in the net when he turned in a Birchall cross only for the referee to give Birchall offside when he had received a pass from Porter. Having the advantage of viewing this incident several times over post match; the Bees players viewed this as a highly debatable decision.
Both sides had opportunities to establish a lead for themselves in the closing moments of the first 45 minutes with Nicholson forcing Harrison into a fine save and Hatch going close with a drive from an acute angle which Garner did well to parry.
The strike pairing for Shrewsbury of Nicholson and Dave Hibbert constantly combined well and provided a consistent danger although in turn Hatch and Birchall worked hard to keep the ball and create opportunities themselves.
Neither side had long periods of domination over the other and whilst this game did not reach great heights Barnet players could not be faulted for their commitment. They had the encouragement of a large number of travelling Barnet fans, who beat out a samba rhythm which managed to subdue and reduce the home fans to only the occasional chant.
When the 4th official signalled four minutes of added time it appeared that both sides were destined to take a point apiece. In that very last minute, by failing to clear the ball cleanly, despite ample opportunity to do so, an attack down Barnet's right led, after a series of deflections to the ball landing at the feet of the Shrews substitute Michael Symes. In turn his strike on goal took a deflection off of Kenny Gillet into the Bees net.
The timing of this goal was a crushing blow, since it offered no opportunity to reply, and it sent the Salop crowd into raptures as they knew it would be sufficient to claim a victory.
This was not Barnet as their most cohesive, but a draw would have been a reasonable return for the effort expended.
To keep apace with the promotion and play off packs a point at the New Meadow would have been most welcome and the focus must now switch to the home fixture against Grimsby Town at Underhill next Saturday.
David Bloomfield.
