BEES HOLD OFF IN-FORM FYLDE TO MARCH ON

BATTLING Barnet reignited their promotion charge with a first win in four matches, but were made to work hard against a revitalised AFC Fylde side who had won their last four.

The Coasters took a ninth-minute lead when Nick Haughton converted from the penalty spot, but new loanee Gatlin O’Donkor made it two goals in two games to level the scores.

Harry Pritchard’s neat near-post finish put Barnet in front, momentarily, before Haughton’s second of the game restored parity.

But Dean Brennan’s men weren’t to be denied with Reece Hall-Johnson heading home a fine cross from Luke Freeman and sub Callum Stead capitalising on a goalkeeping error from Theo Richardson to wrap up the points.

“We showed real character to get back into the game, the way we did,” Brennan said.

“It’s not a penalty in my eyes, the lad has clearly dived but we got the better of them in the end. We responded really well and showed our quality in droves in the second half, which is really pleasing.”

The Coasters took just eight minutes to forge in front. Haughton was dragged down in the box, promopting referee Jamie O’Connor to point to the spot and the midfielder dusted himself down to dispatch his kick into the bottom right corner past Josh Keeley.

But, on 19 minutes, Barnet were level when the lively O’Donkor, on loan from Oxford United, beat

Sam Graham for pace as he went through one-on-one with Richardson before coolly lifting the ball over the Coasters’ stopper.

Barnet edged in front on 27 minutes when Pritchard struck left-footed on the left-edge of the box.

But the lead didn’t last long, three minutes in fact, when Haughton played a neat one-two with Josh Kay and whipped the ball in from a tight angle that found its way past keeper Josh Keeley.

Barnet upped the ante after the break with O’Donker firing just wide, while Richardson then had to keep out Luke Freeman’s shot across the face of goal.

But, on the hour, the Bees edged back in front – Freeman’s cross from the right headed past Richardson by Hall-Johnson.

And the visitors made sure of the points 13 minutes later when Stead won possession from Richardson on the right side of the box to roll the ball into an empty net.

Coasters boss Chris Beech: “I thought there were plenty of positives to take. We matched a very good side, and spent a lot of time with the ball, which is what we aimed to do.

“We never want to lose games, but we’re on a run of form where we’ve been getting very good results.

“We deserve a lot of credit for how we played today, but as do Barnet. They’re up there with one of the best teams we’ve played so every credit to them.”