A late Josiah Akinfenwa goal wasn’t enough to soften the blow of a heavy defeat away to Barnet for our youthful Town

In a difficult Edgware affair, Town were fortunate to not find themselves behind in the opening 45 minutes as the hosts dominated both the ball and the statistics for efforts, though chances were there to take the lead against The Bees.

One of the best chances for either side fell to Hatter’s striker Excel Ed-Okungbowa when the ball broke to the forward in the box at an angle, though the forward opted to try and square the ball instead of going for goal, his pass ending up cleared easily by the home defence.

Another effort inside twenty minutes fell to attacking midfielder Ty Lesser, though as the ball fell to him from a cutback, his right footed effort just lacked the clinical precision to get past the Barnet goalkeeper.

At the other end, a rapid counter saw the best chance for the home side in the opening half, though the forward couldn’t beat Charlie Booth who managed to get down low to save brilliantly.

Town would rue the missed opportunities as the home side would need only 11 minutes from the interval to take a three goal lead, with a flurry of effective direct balls over the Hatters defence proving effective, with the powerful Barnet forward line proving clinical again and again.

A late change would prove effective as young striker Josiah Akinfenwa came on to score for Town, with fellow substitute Harrison Dunn harrying the defence to win the ball back, putting a low ball in for a composed Akinfenwa to finish well from inside the area.

Unfortunately, it would be the hosts who’d have the last goal of the game, scoring their fourth deep into added time to condemn the Hatters to successive defeats on the road for the first time this season.

TOWN: Booth, Norford (sub Burton-Green 85), Barnes, Richards, Norton, Passley-James (sub Corcoran-Berkeley 85), Isufi, El Gourja (sub Knote-Reed 70), Lesser, Ed-Okungbowa (sub Dunn 45), Sharp (sub Akinfenwa 70)

Match Report: Liam Wilmot