Saturday 19 September 2009
Coca-Cola League 2
Barnet 2 (O'Flynn 56, Hughes 81)
Bradford City 2 (Hanson 14, Rehman 70)
Kick Off: 3.00pm
at Underhill Stadium

Attendance: 2282 (454 visitors)

The Bantams were forced to settle for a point in Stuart McCall's 100th league match in charge, despite twice taking the lead.

McCall's men were left to rue missed opportunities as Barnet fought back to earn themselves a draw.

The one point earnt was no more than City deserved after a committed and battling display from the men in claret & amber.

City will have entertained thoughts of victory as the match entered the final ten minutes, but they were ultimately denied by a late Mark Hughes header.

As with most fixtures at the Bee's old ground, the famous Underhill slope played its part in deciding the outcome of the fixture.

With the aid of playing down the gradual seven foot drop, City dominated the first period and created several promising openings.

The Bantams could only breach the Bees defence once and had to settle for a single goal half time lead, given to them by James Hanson.

As the roles reversed in the second period, Barnet improved and equalised through John O'Flynn, before Zesh Rehman slammed home his first goal in City colours from a corner.

Unfortunately for the Bantams, the goalscoring in the match wasn't finished as Hughes late leveller left the Bantams to having to share the spoils.

Along with the late Bees goal, City suffered the blow of losing Simon Ramsden through injury on the hour mark.

City reverted to their now familiar away formation of three central midfielders and the combination of Gareth Evans and Scott Neilson supporting James Hanson.

This meant Irishman James O'Brien was restored to the starting eleven in place of Chris Brandon in the only change from last week's draw with Burton.

During the week, McCall had made the decision for the squad to travel down on the Friday rather than the Saturday as earlier planned.

The reason for the overnight stay was McCall's concern over previous sluggish starts that had blighted the Bantams visits to Cheltenham & Shrewsbury - both coincidently same day trips.

The Bantams boss needn't have worried about a similiar slow opening period from his side in this fixture, as City made an encouraging start.

Hanson had already gone close from a Michael Flynn long throw-in, before he was agonisingly close to being played in for a certain goal.

A delightfully threaded pass by Flynn fed James O'Brien in aches of space.

With Hanson completely unmarked by the penalty spot, any ball to him would have handed the young striker a golden opportunity to open the scoring.

Unfortunatey for City, Hanson was denied that opportunity as Ismail Yakubu made a vital block from O'Brien's attempted pass.

The Bantams went even closer moments later as Scott Neilson found himself in a promising position.

Nielson's fierce shot was deflected narrowly wide, but the danger wasn't over.

From the resulting corner, Hanson came steaming towards the ball, but could only get a glancing header on it when a clear connection would have surely seriously tested Jake Cole' in the Barnet goal.

The former Guiseley striker wasn't to be denied though as he handed the Bantams the lead minutes later.

A typically forceful run by Flynn allowed the Welshman to centre with a dangerous low cross. The ball eventually  found its way to Hanson at the far post, who couldn't miss from a few yards out.

The goal was no more than the Bantams deserved as City's forward line had been a constant threat to a hesitate Barnet defence from the very kick off.

The Bees up to this point had struggled to test Simon Eastwood in the City goal as the Bantams defence stood strong.

As expected though Barnet's main menace was to come from their pacemen out on the flanks.

One of those jet-heeled wingers, Albert Jarrett, played a part in causing Eastwood concern for the first time of the afternoon.

Jarrett found himself with enough space on the Bantams right to send over an inviting cross. Bees striker John O'Flynn's looping header from the cross had Eastwood back peddling.

As the ball stuck the net, the locals thought Barnet had equalised, only for them to realise the ball had landed on top of the net and not in it.

Just after the half hour mark, City engineered a great chance to double their lead.

From a hopeful clearance by Rehman, Evans suddenly found himself in space on the wing as the Barnet back line desperately back tracked. Evans drove to the byline and centred towards Flynn.

As Flynn ran onto the ball from only a few yards out, the net looked certain to bulge.

Flynn momentum was halted as he appeared to have to dig the cross out of his feet, allowing Yakubu to recover his position and make another vital block for his side.

As the half time whistle sounded, the Bantams left the field wondering whether those missed chances would come back to haunt them as they faced the challenge of playing up the slope in the second period.

Initially, this hinderance didn't seem to affect City as they twice went close early on.

Firstly a lung bursting box to box run from Nielson was only halted at the death by the recovering Ahmed Deen, before Evans fired just wide after picking up a Hanson flick on.

As the half progressed though, Barnet managed to force the Bantams back down the slope and exert some real pressure for the first time in the match.

This pressure was to tell in disappointing fashion in the 56th minute.

A long diagonal ball from substitute Kenny Gillett seemed to catch the Bantams defence flat footed as O'Flynn rose unchallenged to loop a header home past a stranded Eastwood.

The home sides tails were well and truly up as the Bees could sense City were slightly knocked back by the equaliser.

Barnet tried to force home this advantage only minutes later and were only denied a second goal in as many minutes by a scrambled Luke O'Brien clearance.

Before play could restart, Bantams fans would have caught the worrying sight of Ramsden lying injured on the turf.

The Bantams right back appeared to tweak his groin and was forced to be replaced by Jonathan Bateson. Early predictions would seem to suggest the former Rochdale defender will miss the club's next two to three matches.

Barnet continued to press, as Clovis Kamdjo and Mark Hughes worried Eastwood with first time efforts.

Despite Barnet looking threatening, the Bantams showed great character to hang with the home side and were rewarded with the lead for the second time.

A James O'Brien corner was flicked into the danger zone by Lee Bullock. The ball eventually fell to Zesh Rehman, who rifled past his close friend Jake Cole to score his first goal in City colours.

At this point, the Bantams could sense victory and a hard fought three points on the cards, but the Bees had other ideas.

Barnet manager Ian Hendon played his trump card with a little more than ten minutes left, as he brought on the Bees talisman, Albert Adomah.

As Barnet came again at the Bantams, Rehman was forced to clear a Mark Hughes drive off his own goal line with a super diving header.

Seconds later though and City were up the other end of the field.

Bateson had sprinted the length of the Underhill pitch to support Nielson in a City breakaway. Nielson found his team-mate, allowing Bateson to square the ball towards Hanson, who was only yards from goal. The cross seemed to get caught in Hanson's feet and despite the efforts of Evans, the chance had gone.

City were left to rue that missed opportunity moments later, as Barnet pegged McCall's men back for a second time.

The dangerous Adomah caused panic in the City defence with a purposeful run. The pacey winger was eventually forced away from goal, feeding O'Flynn out on the Barnet right flank.

O'Flynn's cross managed to pick out the unmarked Mark Hughes, who's headed just squeezed under Eastwood to hand Barnet their second equaliser.

As the match reached its conclusion, Hughes had a golden chance to double his tally for the match and double City's pain.

Adomah managed to shake off the attentions of Luke O'Brien and pick out Hughes, who was lurking in a dangerous position inside the Bantams area.

In a stroke of luck for the Bantams, Hughes scuffed his effort horribly wide and the Bantams could breath a sigh of relief.

In the four minutes of injury time that followed, City managed to create one last golden opportunity to win it.

James O'Brien led a late Bantams breakaway, before feeding Nielson into space in the Barnet penalty area.

The angle forced Nielson wide and despite a fiercely stuck effort, he could only see his strike pushing away by Cole.

BARNET	BRADFORD CITY
1 Jake Cole	1 Simon Eastwood
4 Mark Hughes	2 Simon Ramsden
5 Ismail Yakubu	3 Luke O'Brien
9 John O'Flynn	4 Michael Flynn
10 Micah Hyde	5 Zesh Rehman
11 Yannick Bolasie	8 Lee Bullock
12 Ryan O'Neill	9 Gareth Evans
14 Albert Jarrett	12 Steve Williams
16 Jake Hyde	17 James Hanson
21 Clovis Kamdjo	19 James O'Brien
22 Ahmed Dean	26 Scott Neilson
Substitutes:	Substitutes:
2 Joe Devera for 12 (70)	13 Jon McLaughlin
3 Kenny Gillet for 22 (52)	6 Matthew Clarke
7 Albert Adomah for 11 (78)	11 Chris Brandon
8 Nicky Deverdics	14 Michael Boulding
15 Joe Tabiri	16 Jonathan Bateson for 2 (60)
19 Elliott Charles	20 Leon Osborne
23 Phil Carpenter	21 Luke Sharry

MATCH OFFICIALS:
Referee	G D Scott
Assistant Referee	J D A Hopkins
Assistant Referee	J Busby
4th Official	T Mason

GOALSCORERS:
BARNET	BRADFORD CITY
O'Flynn (56)	Hanson (14)
Hughes (81)	Rehman (70)

DISCIPLINARY:
BARNET	BRADFORD CITY
Kamdjo	J O'Brien