Alex laid low but preserve a point
STEVE Davis revealed several of his Crewe Alexandra players had been ill at half-time as they saw out a stalemate at the Hive.
In a game of few chances, the visitors had the best chance when Danny Hollands had the ball in the back of the net on 52 minutes, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside following a testing freekick from George Cooper.
The Bees nearly won it at the last however, when in-form front man John Akinde was put clean through on goal but the striker fluffed his lines when one-onone with the goalkeeper and the spoils were shared.
But despite their less than clinical finishing in front of goal, Davis was quick to praise his under-theweather players for their display on a difficult day away from home.
“We were slightly unfortunate. We were the better team in the first half but it was even in the second half,” he said.
“We’re disappointed we couldn’t get a winner but at the same time it’s good to keep a clean sheet.
“Our defending was really good and solid throughout.
“Barnet is a tough place to come and I’m really pleased with the performance but disappointed with what we produced in the last third.
“We could have been much more clinical.
“We didn’t have a fullstrength team available. A few players were sick at half-time so we don’t know for sure if that’s a bug but we’ll see later if that’s something we need to worry about.”
Barnet could have nicked a winner late on when Bees captain Michael Nelson had a towering header cleared off the line from a corner seven minutes from time, just ten minutes after the same had happened to Crewe’s Callum Ainley at the other end of the field.
But while Barnet boss Martin Allen was pleased with his side’s clean sheet, he admitted disappointment that they weren’t able to go on and grab a winner right at the death.
“At times we played nice football but we lacked the penetration,” he said.
“We were on top on the second half.
“A couple of headers were cleared off the line and there was that one on one right at the end but it wasn’t to be.
“I’ve been in football for years and I was worried that it was going to be one of those 0-0 games where the away side pop up and nick a late winner on the counter.
“But we stood firm and were very resolute.
“It was good to get a clean sheet because we have been struggling to get those recently.”