Barnet 2-1 Farnborough Town

A 90th minute goal from Barnet's Ismail Yakubu shattered Farnborough Town's FA Cup hopes despite putting on a brave display against the Conference leaders at Underhill on Saturday.

Dean Austin's hopes of mirroring his FA Cup exploits as a player will have to wait another season at least, after his battling Farnborough side suffered late heartbreak at Underhill against Barnet.

Boro, hardworking and committed to the cause, were denied their opportunity of a cheeky replay at Cherrywood Road with Ismail Yakubu nodding home on the far post in stoppage-time. To be fair, his effort was reward for Barnet's persistence after Boro had worked their way back into the contest with a Stephen Hughes goal in the 73rd minute. But Boro themselves will rue the opportunity missed, after looking likely to take the winning salute with a new lease of life in the closing stages after defending for much of the encounter before pulling themselves level.

Dealing with Barnet dominating possession in the first half, as well as playing up the distinctive Underhill Slope, Farnborough defended with strength although a Simon King header which thundered against Craig Holloway's bar was all the home side had to show for their efforts.

Austin could not hide his disappointment after the match, identifying the need to stay focussed right until the last drop of play. He said: "I didn't feel that we were going to lose the game after we had got ourselves back into it.

"The momentum was with us but it is a cruel game and I know I keep saying this but the boys need to learn and they need to learn double quick otherwise we are going to have ourselves a problem."

The boss, despite looking down and understandably so, can reflect on this performance with good heart. His side, for large periods, were organised and displayed a good shape, even though Austin had to shuffle his pack with Tony Taggart playing just off Stephen Hughes in attack with a 4-4-1-1 formation feeding on any dregs that came its way.

And dregs were all that was served up in the opening 45 minutes as the visitors were pushed back as Barnet continued to rule possession.

Taggart, making his return to Underhill after a disappointing stay with the Bees last season, was filling in with Lloyd Blackman absent due to a hip injury. With Gary Holloway out as well, Boro's task was always going to be an uphill one.

But there was little for either the home support or the visitors to get excited about in the first period, with only Stephen Hughes directing a weak header at Scott Tynan whilst at the other end, King's powerful effort from Richard Graham's corner beat Holloway, but not the woodwork.

The lack of goalmouth action was, perhaps, a credit to how well Boro acquitted themselves with Dean Sinclair rampaging forward from midfield and full-back Nicky Bailey showing a clean pair of heels to Anthing Charles and Sasha Opinel on more than one occasion.

Coming out for the second half with the slope in their favour, Boro must have fancied their chances of upsetting the odds. However, Barnet  with left-sided midfielder Graham pulling the strings and teasing his way through countless challenges  were still outworking the visitors in the possession stakes, although Giuliano Grazioli looked slightly out-of-sorts up front.

After the first half of few openings, Graham was at the heart of everything that Barnet threw at Austin's side. First, in the 48th minute, his exquisite through ball to Bailey resulted in a deflected shot only just sailing over Holloway's bar. Then, a minute later, his surging run from deep created space for Simon Clist to deliver an inch-perfect pass for Ben Strevens. However, the target man failed to make any kind of useful contact on the ball.

In the 51st minute, Strevens headed high from a Clist free-kick as Barnet continued to press. Austin then made the first of his three substitutions just seconds later, bringing on Ali Chaaban who was helping the manager out with the current injury crisis at Cherrywood Road after failing to find a club since his Boro exit two weeks ago.

With Chaaban moving into Taggart's role, his trickery and composure on the ball added another dimension to Boro's play with Taggart failing to threaten beforehand. But Barnet really should have taken the lead on the hour mark, when Graham skipped his way past the otherwise impressive Mark Rooney, against his former club, to find Grazioli with a fine cross, only for Holloway to deny the Conference top-scorer from close-range.

Graham again found Graziloi three minutes later, but Opinel did well to clear the danger, before Barnet eventually broke the deadlock in the 68th minute with the creator of the day himself finding a reward for all of his earlier efforts.

Bailey, with time on his hands, fed a fine ball through to Sinclair  himself quiet in the second half  who in turn squared his centre across goal, only for Grazioli to miss with his sliding effort under close attention from Lee Miles.

Despite this, Graham, unmarked at the back-post, made no mistake after timing his run well. But Boro somehow found their way back into proceedings five minutes later.

After Robert Hughes had replaced Ben Townsend on the right-hand side of midfield, Taggart's run eventually found Chaaban in acres of space in the box. After his half-volley was parried away by Tynan, Stephen Hughes showed good reactions, bundling the ball into the net and then earning a caution for his celebrations with the Boro support.

The unthinkable than looked possible, with Chaaban and Robert Hughes making a significant impact as Barnet suddenly looked nervous at the back.

Stephen Hughes volleyed wide after more good work by Chaaban in the 76th minute. Then his namesake Robert drilled a low effort straight at Tynan, despite Chaaban screaming for a pass unmarked in the centre of the box.

As Boro pressed and grew in confidence though, the home side suddenly shut out their nerves with a wave of attacks and Graham once again proved to be the difference, setting up Yakubu on the far post in the dying stages with a header that appeared to lob past Holloway on his near-post.

Austin added: "We had to make some changes as I felt that we started to look tired. They turned the screw a bit in the second half and created a few chances but then we came back into it, got our equaliser but as I said, this game is cruel sometimes.

"I think it showed today just how much full-time training does make a difference. Barnet train twice a day. We train twice a week at the moment and that showed with some of my players in the second half."

Finally, Austin was full of praise for the Boro support who arrived at Underhill in good numbers, saying: "There are a lot of positives there. But I want to win football matches. I'm just disappointed for our fans, who I thought were brilliant today."

BORO: C.Holloway 6, Opinel 6, Burton 7, Miles 7, Rooney 8; Charles 6, Taggart 6 (sub Hamilton 90mins), Townsend 6 (R.Hughes 70 7), Smith 7, Allen-Page 6 (Chaaban 51 8), S.Hughes 7. Not used: Osborn , Theo.