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The Crewe Game
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A distant look back...ish...
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By:
Eric Hitchmo
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11/03/2010
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For a game that in the grand scheme of things didn't mean all that much, the trip to Crewe was certainly more exciting than it 'should' have been. For large parts, it was a fine Barnet performance that most probably deserved a victory over a lacklustre home side whose supporters voiced their disapproval just as Port Vale had done a couple of weeks previous.
Crewe were by no means as bad as Port Vale had been, after all they did manage two goals, however they were second best to another decent away performance from The Bees. We lined up with an attacking 4-5-1/4-3-3 type formation with John O'Flynn and three central midfielders in Livermore, Hughes and Hyde. Such a formation allowed the wingers Adomah and Jarrett to concentrate more on bombing forward than tracking back, which is something that is not really in the latter's game. Jarrett played some decent balls into the box but still continues to frustrate on occasion, but it shouldn't take away from some improvement in the last few weeks.
Crewe's ground sits right next to the railway station so this one was a no-brainer as far as an away day was concerned. With the regularity and speed of services from London Euston, we were in Crewe by 12. A grim town it may be, but we set off to find a pub nonetheless. The quite scandalously priced first round (£11.60) was most welcome and was a sign of things to come as kick off drew closer.
There were a few Barnet fans around the town but as we stepped into the ground it was a relatively low turnout once again. Unsurprising, but still quite disappointing. Nonetheless, the small, well-oiled band of supporters once again created a cracking non-stop atmopshere. Not particularly loud you'll understand, you can't really be when there's only 127 people there, but the persistence through a sizeable repertoire of songs was impressive. It's something that has very rarely been prevalent at home games when compared to away, but then that has been the case for some time. A shame, that. The ground is a strange affair. Three of the four stands are particularly small and would not look out of place a division or two below League Two. They are put into the shadows by a huge Main Stand which dwarfs everything surrounding it
Back to the game then. It was quite a slow start to be fair, and Livermore had to be replaced twelve minutes in with an injury. Nicky Deverdics came on in his stead but we were soon to be behind after Gary Breen was caught out by Clayton Donaldson who ran through and made the finish look very very simple. Oh dear this all looks very familiar doesn't it? However, this goal seemed to spark us into life somewhat.
Territorial advantage, possession and attacking play were all in evidence. This rare phenomenon was accompanied by, horror of horrors, shots on the opposition goal. What was this all about? Are we watching the right game here? We were well on top, and John O'Flynn grabbed a deserved equaliser with a stunning left foot shot from the corner of the penalty area. He cut inside, took advantage of a slip from the defender and unleashed a shot into the top corner via the despairing hand of the goalkeeper. A contender for goal of the season this one.
Six minutes later and we were in the lead. Matt Lockwood up in an advanced position received the ball on the edge of the box after a penalty area melee and smashed the ball home via a slight deflection which wrong footed the Crewe keeper. Lovely. Lockwood is superb. He defends very ably, can pick a pass, both short and long and is an attacking threat even from left back. The noise levels increased further from here as jubilation spread throughout the aforementioned small band of merry men, women and children dressed in Barnet colours. It could well have been more before the half ended. A phone call informed me of our sheer dominance on the shot statistics at this stage and we in truth, could have been well out of sight at the half time whistle which was met with a chorus of boos from the locals and general happy sounds from us visitors.
The second half was a different story. Goalbound attempts were to become reduced in their number but still Crewe struggled to find a way through. Aside from a shot which rebounded against the post and a free kick well saved by Cole, the home side were being kept at arms length by an assured Gary Breen and an increasingly impressive Clovis Kamdjo. Albert Adomah also continues to show signs of the player we know he is down the right hand side. He tormented the Crewe left back Tootle, who had a torrid afternoon for the home side and was ridiculed by the away supporters for such a showing. The shallow away stand allows for almost any comment to be clearly heard from the pitch and the left back certainly heard some of the cruel witticisms and rye observations from massed ranks from North London.
Unfortunately we could not hold on for a deserved victory as we were undone by the simplest of free-kick routines which allowed Clayton Donaldson another sitter. Frustrating not to make it a fourth away win of the season but not desperately important. Still, another three points would have been very nice to add onto the total and push us as far up the table as possible.
This weekend we meet Accrington Stanley. We all know what happened the last time we met this lot at home and a repeat of that will not be welcome. I'm pretty sure that with the improvement we have shown in the last few weeks that this will certainly not be the case. The game has little importance for either side but let's at least have a little something to cheer about before the summer. The World Cup summer. Now that's something to look forward to, isn't it?!
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