ACE ANDY PUTS BEES TO FLIGHT
DARREN FERGUSON breathed a huge sigh of relief as Doncaster’s Andy Williams snatched a stoppage-time winner, after Rovers had earlier thrown away a two-goal lead.
Bira Dembele and Luke Gambin cancelled out first-half strikes from James Coppinger and Matty Blair as Sam Muggleton’s long throws caused Doncaster problems.
But Williams won it late on, and Ferguson admitted he hopes Barnet cause similar problems for Rovers’ promotion rivals this season.
“The way the game transpired, it’s the best win of the season,” he said. “To win it in the last minute, everyone goes home happy.
“It got scrappy in the second half, but a win’s a win.
“I’ve never played anything like Muggleton’s throws. It was unplayable at times. It didn’t matter where the ball went out, it was coming back into the box. I hope Barnet do that against the teams around us in the league, because they will win games doing that.”
Ferguson was less happy with referee Trevor Kettle, however, claiming a complaint will be lodged after comments to some of his players, which he called “absolutely out of order”.
Ferguson added: “If it’s true what my players are saying – and I don’t see why they’d not tell the truth – I’m disappointed in that.” The game was a classic tale of two halves, with Doncaster well on top before Coppinger’s superb volley into the top corner broke the deadlock on 15 minutes. Winger Blair doubled the lead on 32 minutes when he changed the pace of the attack, fed Williams before racing onto the return ball and slotting in.
But Barnet threatened from set-pieces, particularly after the break, and just moments after Michael Nelson hit the bar from one of Muggleton’s long throws, Dembele headed another Muggleton missile in on 61 minutes.
Barnet then levelled with just four minutes remaining when, after another long Muggleton throw, sub Gambin – who could have been playing for Malta against England at Wembley if he hadn’t been suspended – lost his marker to turn John Akinde’s low cross in.
There was to be one last twist in stoppage time however, when Blair found space to cross, and Williams nicked in ahead of Bondz N’Gala to tap in.
Bees boss Martin Allen said: “It was a fantastic second-half performance. I’m not sure we deserved to be two-nil down at half-time, but we changed things and tried to play higher up the field.
“It was very disappointing to lose in the last minute after the players had done so well to come back. We certainly didn’t deserve to lose.
“In the second half, we also played with quite a bit of quality – mixing it up with ‘the weapon’ as I call Muggleton. The long throw might not be pretty but it ain’t half hard to play against.”