| Bad day at the office? You'd better believe it! The better team won as Dale produced one of their worst performances of the season at Barnet to damage their own play off hopes and give renewed hope to Barnet in their relegation battle. It truly was a poor performance by Dale, and from early as the first couple of minutes of the game, it was clear that there was no spark to the team's performance, and it was no surprise that they found themselves on the end of a hammering by the North London club.
Just what the reasons were behind the defeat is unclear. The phrase used by many Dale supporters in the wobbly temporary stand behind the goal was that Barnet "wanted it more than we did". Whether that was true or not is debatable, but Barnet played like their lives depended on it, and they closed Dale down immediately whenever we had the ball, and they used the full width of the sloping pitch to its maximum.
Dale on the other hand were guilty of poor defending, sloppy midfield play, ineffective attacking, and poor passing throughout the team. We were second to every loose ball and we never got to grips with the game till it was far too late in the day. With just five games to go, we'd better hope for the good of our season that this was just a one off!
Around four hundred Dale supporters, strangely unvocal throughout the game, made the long journey to North London for this crucial game against the relegation threatened side. Hopes were high on the uncovered terrace before kickoff amongst the sun drenched supporters, as seven points from our previous four matches had brought the play off feelings back to the Dale faithful.
Given the recent good form, Parkin opted not to mess with the line up too much, preferring to go with the basics structure of the team that beat Carlisle and Exeter so convincingly the previous week. With Lee Todd injured and Sean McAuley unavailable for selection, Mickey Oliver slipped back into the left back position that he did so well at last Monday for the last twenty minutes, and Paul Ware came into the midfield to take Oliver's place.
Dale were kicking away from their own supporters in the first half and right from the kick off, there was an uneasy feeling as we found ourselves on the back foot immediately. Whether the players had been as guilty of complacency about this match as we supporters had been, I don't know, but the first two or three minutes of the game showed that this wasn't going to be the sort of match that the league table suggested it should have been.
We found ourselves under pressure right from the first whistle, as Barnet bossed the midfield with former Mansfield midfielder and Dale target John Doolan (transfer target #1 for the Summer please!) superb throughout the entire afternoon. He was at the heart of everything, switching the ball from side to side.
They had a couple of half chances in the opening ten minutes which gave us more than just your average scare, but the first real chance of the game actually came our way on thirteen minutes when we were awarded a corner on the right hand side. Ford took the corner and it was met on the back post by Mark Monington who headed downwards. The ball appeared to take a knock of the post before being cleared off the line! (looked definitely miles over from 100 yards away!
This gave renewed hope to the Dale supporters that this was a sign of things to come as we overcame our poor start. If anything it was to be our last chance in a long while. For within two minutes of this chance, we found ourselves a goal down when our defending went to pot.
The goal came after Gary Jones needlessly gave the ball away, and the next Dale touch was to get the ball out of the back of the net. A good move down the right hand wing, saw the ball crossed over, and with the Dale defence doing their David Copperfield impressions, and Greg Heald had perhaps the easiest header he will have in his life to bury it in the back of the net to give the home side a deserved lead.
Hopes that this would kick start Dale into action were misguided, and if anything, this greatly boosted the confidence of the home side, and they knocked the ball about as if they were heading for the Play Offs themselves. Darren Currie was always a threat down the right wing, with Michael Oliver doing everything he could to keep him in check.
However, it would be from that side of the field that the home side doubled their advantage just after the half hour mark. Again a cross from the right hand side superbly delivered caused mayhem in the Dale defence which again was AWOL, allowing Mark Arber who scored at Spotland last season to sneak in and poke the ball home.
At this point, with heads dropping all over the place, there was a very real danger of the game becoming a rout. Half time could not come quick enough for us, and with Barnet bouyant, there was a very real danger of them making it three before we reached the half way stage of the game. Fortunately, that didn't happen, and we did have one last great chance before half time, when there were shades of pinball wizard going on in the Barnet box. The Bees had enough bodies back in the box to make things difficult for us, and all Dale efforts were blocked.
Half time came and brought with it arguments amongst the Dale support which looked like boiling over at one stage, due to comments made earlier in the game. We also had Moggy on the latest leg in his Sponsored walk as he went round the pitch with his ladder on his back, and he looked to be extremely knackered by the time he reached the Dale end of the ground.
As the players came out for the second half, there appeared to be something strange happening as the Dale players ran out. It might be something and nothing, but it appeared like Tony Ford called an informal huddle on the pitch. He certainly called for the players to have a final word for them on the pitch before the start of the second half. Whether it was an overspill of the half time team talk, which I dare say wasn't particularly complimentary about the first half display, or whether it was a case of the finishing off instructions that they didn't have the time to give out at half time, who knows? Certainly seemed unusual.
The second half was an improvement on the first. Not sufficiently to force a fantastic comeback, but a minor improvement all the same. There was a bit more urgency about the Dale play, and finally Gary Jones and Dave Flitcroft started to have some impact in midfield.
However, it was soon too late. With wingers Hadland and Turner warming up on the sidelines preparing to come on, the game was soon all over as Barnet made it three goals without reply from Dale. And again, it came from another cross from the right hand side of the pitch, when the ball came over this time from Danny Brown. Wayne Evans appeared to stumble over the ball, before defender Heald stabbed it home for his second of the game.
After that, the wingers came on, but did nothing to alter the flow of the game, as any wing play proved to be ineffective. It was a case of playing out time from that point on, and with Dale looking unable to offer any sort of comeback, it may have been wiser for Parkin to wave the white flag and tell the players to preserve their energy for Monday's fixture.
Paul Connor had one late chance for Dale, as he fought his way through a couple of players, with the ball ricocheting off the hand of one Barnet player, but his shot was saved well by keeper Naisbett. There were calls for a penalty, but in all honesty, Connor took the advantage on this one.
One last effort from Monington from a corner saw Naisbett palm the ball onto the cross bar, but in all honesty, we didn't deserve a goal.
The final whistle brought the inevitable shakes of the heads on the Dale supporters as they trudged out the metal stand. The only positive was the news that filtered through that almost all the other results had gone our way. I suppose this can be taken in two ways. We can feel down that we have not taken advantage of that, beating Barnet and rocketing up the table, or we can look on Barnet as a bad day, but one which has not altered our play off push one iota. We have to be thankful about that, and must use it to go into the Lincoln game positively. It's almost as if Saturday never happened at all, looking at the league table. Victory over Barnet would have took us 8th. Victory over Lincoln will do the same. Roll on Monday!
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