As previewed this game was set to be massive in the race to avoid the drop in League two with Burton Albion and Barnet at the start of play separated by five points but with the Brewers still having three games in hand, it was simple. Barnet had to win to stand any chance of closing the gap and, in effect, remaining a football league club. Rejuvenated by the arrival of old favourite Martin Allen to the helm along with fan's favourite Guiliano Grazioli as number two, Barnet fans had cause for optimism after grabbing a respectable draw at home to Chesterfield the weekend previous.
Burton on the other hand are the epitome of inconsistency after an away drubbing to Oxford and a miraculous midweek comeback against Macclesfield Town to earn a 3-2 win it was hard to predict which Albion side would turn up for this one. During the warm up Barnet looked pumped up for the game ahead, aside from striker Steve Kabba who blazed shot after shot over, wide or indeed outside of the ground in the shooting practice, sadly though not a sign of things to come...
Barnet began the game far the brighter team knocking the ball around confidently giving no indication of their current league position. With little over five minutes played the Bee's thought they'd taken the lead only for Kabba to see his effort chalked off by the eagle-eyed assistant. Burton then went on the offensive with Jaques Maghoma looking the most likely source of a goal and with 11 minutes played, it came. An incisive pass from Adam Bolder was cleverly dummied by Maghoma and with Calvin Zola unable to get a shot away the ball fell to Sam Winnall to smash home the opener, the best possible start for Albion.
That however did not deter Barnet and 'Mad Dog' along with his team never gave up as Allen gave the impression of a man possessed on the touchline kicking every ball and winning every tackle along with his side. After the interval things really got interesting with Scott Malone replacing Jack Dyer for Burton with manager Paul Peschisolido looking for more attacking threat.
Sadly the only thing that was under attack was the Burton goalmouth as former Derby striker Izale Mcleod's effort drifted over Legzdins and rattled the Brewer's crossbar. Nathan Stanton then forgot the first rule of defending by letting a clearance bounce in front of him allowing Kabba to latch on to the through ball and slot the ball between the legs of the Burton 'keeper.
Barnet fans were now louder than ever, with countless renditions of the Beatles classic 'twist and shout' but on the pitch maybe 'Hey Jude' would have been more appropriate as Bee's full-back Jude Stirling kept bombarding the Burton box with Rory Delap-esque long throws. Kabba was on loan to Burton last season and seemed no stranger to the Pirelli Stadium goalmouths as he went on to prove just minutes later with a cool lob over Legzdins from a precise ball down the channel. Barnet had indeed turned it around.
Things then went from bad to worse for the home side as a foul in the area gave Kabba the golden opportunity for a 13 minute hat-trick which the Barnet striker duly took sending Albion's 'keeper the wrong way and Barnets following behind the goal into raptures, dreamland for the Underhill massive and a dark place for the Brewer's followers. Manager Peschisolido then cost himself a few 'Manager of the year' nominations by hauling off striker Winnall to the tune of 'you don't know what you're doing' replacing him with Greg Pearson. By the now the labouring Zola was bemusing the home support as to quite how he was still on the pitch, the man from the Congo quite clearly hadn't had his Um Bongo as flick on after heavy touch failed to find a yellow shirt.
All that was left was for Barnet to stick the knife in and winger Mark Marshall delivered a deadly near-post ball to be met by..guess who? Yes, Kabba had now got his fourth and the game was well and truly done. Barnet with a deserved victory and Burton left to ponder a six-pointer against Northampton Town on Tuesday night. It marks a personal point for myself as this is the first defeat that I have experienced following the Albion and to be quite honest from the off it seemed Barnet were the more likely to win the game, by such a large margin in the end was no surprise, it was a defensive horror show from Burton and hopefully just a one-off.
Tuesday night see's the return of former Brewer's striker Shaun Harrad with Northampton coming to town and after being demolished by old-boy Kabba, let just hope Harrad has forgotten to bring his shooting boots...
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