Nick Sandamas sees the Bees leave it late

Barnet FC in their National League match with Dagenham & Redbridge — Barnet taking on Dagenham & Redbridge at The Hive

Substitute Lee Ndlovu scored a stoppage time goal to win it for the runaway league leaders as the Bees inched ever closer to a return to the English Football League (EFL).

Dom Telford replacing Ndlovu was the only change to the starting line up from Tuesday’s five-goal thrashing of Yeovil Town and it was the home side who made the early running with an early chance falling to Idris Kanu: his vicious volley from the edge of the box saw Daggers keeper Louis Jones tip brilliantly over the bar.

Chances kept coming with Dom Telford coming close after brushing aside Michael Hector before shooting wide.

Then, past the half hour mark, Anthony Hartigan shot over the bar following a Ryan Glover long throw and – with five minutes to go before the break – Jones pulled off a magnificent low save to turn away Danny Collinge’s piledriver from the edge of the box.

The Daggers closed out the half with their first sight at goal, Josh Rees shooting past the post.

The second half began like the first with the Bees in complete control as they sought to break the deadlock.

First Callum Stead put a header wide, then Zak Brunt warmed the hands of Jones, holding the ball at the second attempt.

Jones was in full flight as he pulled off three crucial saves in a ten minute spell to keep the score at nil-nil.

First he pushed a Stead effort effort away from goal, before producing a similar save when a Ndlovu header was pushed away.

Ten minutes from normal time, the Daggers broke through with one of there few forays into the Bees box, but Aaron Loupalo-Bi could only direct his header into Owen Evans’ hands.

Then, with 93 minutes on the clock and the game heading for a stalemate, Ndlovu produced a moment of magic to break Daggers’ hearts and send the Bees’ fans into raptures with a low shot into the net between Jones and his nearside post.

Ndlovu even had the ball in the net again minutes later following a delicate chip over Jones but the ref ruled it out for handball against the striker.

With both their nearest challengers York & Forest Green drawing against each other, the Bees lead at the top is now up to a mighty 11 points.

With nine games to play, the EFL is well within sight, but there is still plenty of work to do and we go again on Saturday with a visit to Woking.

Team: Evans, Collinge, Tavares, Kenlock, Coker (Browne 60), Glover (Clifford 75), Hartigan, Brunt (Chapman 60), Telford, (Ndlovu 70) Kanu (Cropper 78)

Subs not used: Ballagambi, Oluwo

Attendance 3565 (406 away fans)

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