Akinde’s spot-on as Bees earn vital win
DESPITE claiming the first win of his fifth spell in charge, Barnet manager Martin Allen urged his players to spend the Easter weekend thinking solely about tomorrow’s short trip to Stevenage.
Having missed four of his last five penalties, striker John Akinde – signed by Allen in 2014 during his fourth spell in charge – scored twice from the spot to earn the hosts a crucial victory over Crewe.
“The mood wasn’t very happy,” said Allen of his post-match team talk. “I had a go at a few of them as they didn’t do exactly what I wanted. There’s been no celebrating as there’s no room for that. This is just three points: we need a lot, lot more than this to give us something to celebrate.
“They had a stern reminder of what’s needed. They better not go out over the weekend - they better get their heads down and get ready for the next challenge. When it’s like this you’ve got to take one game at a time.”
Akinde’s fifth goal of the season – and first since January - came six minutes after the break. He sent Alex goalkeeper Ben Garratt the wrong way with his penalty, won by Simeon Akinola following a clumsy foul by James Jones.
Barnet goalkeeper Craig Ross kept his side in front with a brilliant fingertip save to deny Jordan Bowery’s goalbound strike shortly after the hour. However, he was beaten by the pace loanee Harry McKirdy got on his low shot, a chance made by George Ray’s looping header, for Crewe’s equaliser.
Just when it appeared that Barnet’s chance of picking up a valuable win had disappeared when substitute JeanLouis Akpa Akpro’s looping volley cannoned off the bar, Akinde fired his second penalty of the game into the top corner three minutes from time.
Crewe boss David Artell felt Barnet’s second spot kick, awarded by referee Lee Swabey following George Ray’s tackle on Shaquile Coulthirst, was harsh.
He said: “The referee gave them two penalties – that changes games. The first one was, the second one wasn’t. I’m not going to say any more.
“You can’t do anything about referees making horrific decisions. I can’t lambast my decisions for something a maths teacher does.
“We didn’t deserve to win, we didn’t deserve to lose. A draw would have been a fair result. The conditions were terrible, the pitch was poor because of the weather, but we tried to play.”