IT’S WHAM, BAM, THANK YOU MA’AM FROM BEES

IN the first of two ‘home’ games to be played at the Wham Stadium in Accrington, FC Halifax Town saw their play-off hopes suffer a setback as they were beaten by second placed Barnet.

Two goals in the space of three first-half minutes from Danny Collinge and Callum Stead sealed a comfortbale victory for the Dean Brennan’s men.

“We were physical, we made lots of contacts on their back line,” the Barnet boss said.

“We made them defend and scored two goals from restarts which I was very happy with. We defended well and our goalie made saves when he had to and that was crucial.”

Halifax had been forced to move their final home games away from the Shay Stadium due to pitch issues over recent weeks and despite being forced to cross the county border to Lancashire, they still managed to pull in a healthy 1,446 crowd.

The Shaymen started brightly but Barnet turned the game on its head with two quickfire goals, starting in the tenth minute.

A throw-in from Jordan Cropper was flicked on by Nicke Kabamba and defender Collinge was on hand to tap home at the far post.

Three minutes later, the Bees doubled their lead with a short corner which was crossed into the box and Stead headed past Sam Johnson to leave the Shaymen with a mountain to climb.

It took a good save from Johnson in tipping Stead’s effort over the bar to prevent a third goal as

Barnet kicked on, although Halifax almost capitalised with half chances presented to Max Wright and Rob Harker while, at the other end, Zak Brunt turned Kane Thompson-Sommers on the edge of the box but his effort was narrowly over the bar.

Harker went close again juts before half-time with a header from Tylor Golden’s corner but it drifted wide of the target again.

Stead was forced off just before half-time with an injury, replaced by Idris Kanu, and Halifax upped the ante after the break.

A poor clearance from keeper Josh Keeley fell to Harker, he looked for a teammate, but Barnet were able to clear when Town probably should have done better.

Keeley though made amends with a fine double save to keep his side on top. First, he denied Florent Hoti, then after thwarting Wright when one-on-one, he kept out Jack Hunter from the rebound.

Barnet almost made it three late on when Jamie Stott gave the ball way to Brunt and his effort was saved by Johnson, but the Bees had plenty left in the tank.

Halifax boss Chris Millington said: “It felt like a cup tie, Barnet scored a couple of soft goals, and we didn’t stay with the man.

“We were then chasing the game which isn’t great. We have had chances and not taken them.” STAR MAN: Danny Collinge (Barnet) ATT: 1,446 ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★ REFEREE: Michael Barlow