SHOT-SHY MOORS FAIL TO DODGE BEES’ STING
BARNET 2 SOLIHULL MOORS 0
A SECOND-HALF brace by Barnet midfielder Wes Fonguck separated the sides at the Hive in a game that lacked quality for long periods.
Solihull rarely threatened with their main striker Danny Wright cutting an isolated figure up front, with the home keeper Mark Cousins seldom called into action.
With the wet conditions causing players to lose their footing regularly, and with a strong wind blowing, good football was a rarity, yet Barnet edged the game because they showed the greater desire.
Fonguck will rightly get the headlines with his neatlytaken goals, but he was aided and abetted by his midfield colleague Jack Taylor, who prompted intelligently throughout the game.
Left-back Jamie Reckford and midfielder Corey O’Keefe made good use of the ball for Solihull, but their colleagues were not always on the same wavelength.
The Bees created better chances than the visitors with debutant striker Manny Duku, a loan signing from Cheltenham Town, guilty of failing to convert two gilt-edged opportunities, one in each half.
John Still, the Barnet boss, was delighted at the final whistle and said: “I was pleased with the outcome; it was difficult conditions for both teams, but I’d told the players that in these conditions the biggest issue would be that we would need to work hard. “We know we have enough quality and I thought both goals showed that good quality. “Wes has come on terrifically, one of the plusses of the younger players playing regularly because of the many injuries we have is that it will eventually make the squad stronger “I was delighted with our clean sheet, delighted with how organised we were, and we catered very well with their direct approach.” By contrast the Solihull boss Tim Flowers was more downbeat. “I am disappointed with our performance in general,” he said. “I thought we played on the back foot, we were second when the ball dropped for a long, long time, up until the last ten or fifteen when we had a bit of a go, but it was all too little, too late for me. “We were off our game today, I’ve got no complaints about the result although I didn’t think it was a very good game, not much quality about, but Barnet looked like they needed it more than we did and that can’t happen. “We didn’t test their keeper Cousins enough, we were too far away from Danny Wright, but to be fair to the lads this season most of the time they have found a way to win or pick up a point, but today we just couldn’t find that way.” STAR MAN: Wes Fonguck (Barnet) ATT: 1,104 ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★ REFEREE: Gary Parson 9/10