Bees sting Dale's playoff dream

Rochdale 0
Barnet 2 (Cogan 24, Sinclair 33)

Rochdale’s dim play-off hopes faded into darkness with a two goal home defeat at the hands of Barnet. The London side temporarily halted Hartlepool’s march to the League Two title by beating them on Saturday and they followed this with an excellent away win at in-form Dale, who suffered their first home defeat since mid-January.

Barnet sealed the win in what was an awful first half for the home side; by far their worst forty-five minutes under Keith Hill’s stewardship. Twice Barnet were aloud to get crosses into the box too easily and twice they capitalised. Barry Cogan converted Adam Birchall’s low centre by side footing easily past Dale keeper Gilks with twenty-five minutes gone and eight minutes later Cogan was able to put a pinpoint cross onto the head of Dean Sinclair, who made no mistake from six yards out.

“Barnet were absolutely superb,” said Rochdale manager Keith Hill. “We weren’t really at the races today and I don’t really know the reason why. We gave one hundred percent but we didn’t make good decisions. For the two goals we gave the ball away and they got the ball into the box. Credit to Barnet, but we weren’t at it today.”

The game opened up in the second half as Rochdale sought to reduce their arrears and this created plenty of space for Barnet to exploit at the other end as Keith Hill brought on forwards Chris Dagnall and Danny Reet and the formation was altered to a 3-4-3. Chances came and went for both sides in an end-to-end half with Barnet looking at least as likely to seal the game as Rochdale were to get back into it.

“The performance was the key for us and that was what gave us a good result,” said Barnet boss Paul Fairclough. “It was an intelligent display against a side in very good form. The way we went about our jobs really impressed me.

“After half time we knew they would go for it and change to 3-4-3 and this gave us extra opportunities behind them and down the sides but we finished poorly in the second half. If we had finished more clinically we could have had two or three more goals.”

Liam Hatch was the most guilty of failing to secure Barnet’s win after he failed to convert Jason Puncheon’s low cross across the six yard box; Hatch’s miscued shot sailed wide with the goal gaping.

When Puncheon was in full flight Rochdale could do nothing to stop him and he ran the Dale defence ragged as Barnet looked to raid more goals on the counter attack. Often the only thing in Puncheon’s way was the excellent Rochdale goalkeeper Matthew Gilks, who kept his side in the contest as they went on the all-out offensive at the other end.

Cogan cut back for Puncheon to shoot from the edge of the box and the Dale keeper saved wonderfully, palming the ball away at full stretch. Gilks was at his best once more when he palmed out another Puncheon effort, this time after the Barnet winger’s pace got the better of Dale centre half Mark Jackson.

At the other end Rochdale had three goals disallowed. Alan Goodall dived in on Barnet keeper Lee Harrison and the ball went loose; Goodall squared for Glenn Murray to tap in but the referee adjudged Goodall to have fouled the keeper.

A second goal was perhaps more harshly chalked off. Glenn Poole’s corner was glanced goalwards by Simon Ramsden but Puncheon was on hand to clear off the line, the ball looped up into the air and Rory McArdle hit a powerful header into the top corner but the referee had spotted a push by the Dale centre half

In the dying seconds Reet struck the post with Harrison well beaten and Murray put the rebound into the net but again the referee found reason to deny Rochdale, this time judging that Murray had handled the ball in forcing it over the line.

It has been a case of happy holidays for Barnet this season as Paul Fairclough explained: “We had a great Christmas and Easter has been good with two wins against form teams. I’m pleased with the way we have not let our season run to a stop – we’ve kept at it.”

Keith Hill’s men now need to make sure they do the same in their last four fixtures with their play-off chances dashed. The Dale boss indicated that Rochdale achieved their target of getting safe in League Two a month ahead of schedule, a superb achievement, and now they must concentrate on making sure the hard work continues and that they finish as high up the league as possible.

Man of the match – Jason Puncheon – was sharp and incisive in providing a counter attacking outlet for Barnet as Rochdale pushed forward in the second half and but for Matthew Gilks it would have been Puncheon who put the result beyond doubt, whilst his team mates wasted opportunities that Puncheon was at the heart of creating.

Attendance: 2,525

Rochdale: Gilks, Ramsden, Jackson, McArdle, Goodall, Muirhead (Reet 46), Doolan, Perkins, Rundle (Poole 69), Dodds (Dagnall 46), Murray.
Subs not used: Rigby, Flitcroft.

Booked: Perkins, Goodall.

Barnet: Harrison, Devera, Yakubu, King, Nicolau, Cogan, Bailey, Sinclair, Puncheon (Graham 90), Birchall, Hatch (Grazioli 87).
Subs not used: Flitney, Vieira, Allen.

Booked: Devera, Birchall.

Attempts (on target): Rochdale 13 (6) Barnet 13 (6)
Free kicks: Rochdale 19 Barnet 10
Offside: Rochdale 4 Barnet 7
Corners: Rochdale 6 Barnet 4

Referee: M Haywood