Nick Sandamas sees the Bees lose to Salford at The Hive

The main stand at The Hive Stadium, home of Barnet FC — The Hive (Credit – Katie Chan, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Barnet 1 Salford City 3

Barnet suffered their second successive defeat after play-off contenders Salford left The Hive with all three points following a disappointing display by the Bees who remain in the bottom half.

Dean Brennan made a one change to the starting eleven from last week’s loss at Chesterfield, with Ben Winterburn coming in for Kane Smith. It was also great to see Joe Kizzi back in the squad and on the bench for the first time since August 2024 following a long spell on the sidelines through injury.

The visitors showed why they are in the play offs with a performance worthy of staying in the running for promotion.

Daniel Udoh tested keeper Cieran Slicker with a quarter of an hour played but the Bees’ number one saved easily.

Nnamdi Ofoborh created the first chance for the hosts on 22 minutes but his shot from close range following Ryan Glover’s ball to him saw Ammies keeper Matt Young get down well to block.

Then, on 34 minutes, the Ammies pressure told and they took the lead via the boot of Josh Austerfield.

Clever play by Rosaire Longelo on the right saw him cross the ball into the danger area and, despite Slicker saving Austerfield’s first shot, the number 17 reacted quickest to blast the loose ball into the back of the net.

Just five minutes later, the Bees task got even harder when the Ammies doubled their lead.

A ball through the middle found Kallum Cesay bearing down on goal neck and neck with Ofoborh but, with Slicker coming out, the unfortunate Ofoborh stuck out a leg to divert the ball past his own keeper to give the visitors a two goal cushion going into half time.

Lee Ndlovu came on at the start of the second half to try to increase the Bees’ firepower and hopefully reduce their arrears quickly, but it was the Ammies who scored goal number three on 56 minutes when Kelly Nmai played the ball across to Udoh, who produced a clever back heel into the net to virtually seal all points for the Karl Robinson’s side.

Kizzi came on for his first taste of action for 15 months replacing Nik Taveres in the centre of defence.

Callum Stead came close to a goal for the Bees but his header from a corner went straight into Young’s hands.

The Bees surged forward late on and were rewarded with a consolation goal with a minute of normal time remaining.

Rhys Browne headed against the woodwork, then saw his second effort saved before sub Oli Hawkins eventually prodded the ball home from a yard out to give the Bees a crumb of comfort from what was a poor performance.

Browne did have a chance to score a second goal in stoppage time to make the scoreline more respectable but Young got down well to beat the strikers shot away.

The Bees will hope to put their poor recent league form (one win since mid-October) behind them as they make the trip over the Severn Bridge to take on bottom of the table Newport County followed three days later by Bristol Rovers.

Team: Slicker, Collinge, Tavares (Kizzi 65), Senior, Glover, Winterburn (Ndlovu 46), Shelton, Ofoborh, Stead (Hawkins 63), Assombalonga (Browne 63), Kanu

Subs not used: Evans, Osadebe, Hugill

Attendance 2220 (115 away fans)

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