Barnet continued their cull of Westcountry clubs in the Carling Cup when they gained a deserved second-round success against Plymouth Argyle, whose under-strength side were in the end no match for their opponents from Coca-Cola League Two. The Bees, who had seen off Bristol City in the previous round, took an early lead which was soon cancelled out by a classy goal from Akos Buzsaky. However, poor defending in the opening moments of the second half gave Barnet their winner and their place in Saturday's third-round draw.
For his fourth and possibly last game in temporary charge of the Pilgrims, coach Jocky Scott kept his word and made the sweeping team changes he had promised on Monday. Only four players who had started last Saturday's Championship win over Burnley were on the pitch to hear the first whistle at Underhill last night - defenders Taribo West and Mat Doumbe plus forwards Matt Derbyshire and Scott Taylor.
Nick Chadwick returned to the fray at the centre of the three-man strikeforce, while the midfield trio comprised Buzsaky, Bjarni Gudjonsson and Keith Lasley. The Scot was beginning a senior game for the first time this season. Luke McCormick took over from Romain Larrieu in goal, as he had done for the first-round success against Peterborough United. Anthony Barness was recalled at right-back, while the left-back berth went to Tony Capaldi.
Although he is a regular in that role for Northern Ireland, with whom he enjoyed a famous triumph against England earlier this month, last night saw Capaldi commence a competitive game in defence for the Pilgrims for the first time.
Argyle kicked off playing down the notorious Underhill slope and wearing red socks, which presumably had been borrowed from Barnet. The Hertfordshire side produced a couple of speedy raids in the opening minutes, but it was the visitors who had the first shot at goal.
After a one-two with Capaldi, Buzsaky thumped a long-range effort wide of the target. Then, after the Hungarian had been brought down, Capaldi's free-kick was clutched by the sprawling goalkeeper Scott Tynan.
Barnet's first shot was on target, and it produced the tie's opening goal. A short corner in the 11th minute was crossed into the danger area by Dean Sinclair and headed out by Doumbe - only as far as centre-back Simon King, who smashed a spectacular strike into the top of the net past a powerless McCormick.
It was a goal of the highest quality, and King nearly doubled his tally with a free header from a left-flank free-kick by Nicky Bailey, but he directed the ball wide. Bailey's next intervention was a foul on Lasley some 25 yards from goal which earned the Barnet midfielder a painful injury and a booking.
Buzsaky made the Bees pay the full price for Bailey's indiscretion with a perfect free-kick which was curled into the top corner for an exquisite equaliser. The goal was just as good as King's, and soon afterwards there was almost another for Argyle to celebrate. Taylor's close-range header was tipped over the crossbar by Tynan, however.
Argyle were moving the ball nicely through midfield at times, but the League Two side were no mugs and looked capable of inflicting further damage, especially when their speedier players ran at West.
It was the Pilgrims who were doing most of the attacking, however, and Lasley flashed a drive past a post before Gudjonsson also missed the target with a left-foot strike. At the other end, Louis Soares was likewise wayward with a long-range effort and then a lofted cross from the same player almost found the net but went behind.
Derbyshire saw a glancing header held by Tynan in another Argyle raid as the first half drew to a close, with the Pilgrims looking full of promise going forward, but vulnerable too often for comfort at the back.
That vulnerability was very evident in the first minute of the second period, when Barnet took the lead again. Doumbe appealed in vain for offside when Sinclair's pass reached Giuliano Grazioli, and the former Bristol Rovers striker was left unattended to run on and lob the ball over McCormick.
Encouraged by their breakthrough, the Bees kept Argyle penned at the bottom of the hill for a while. Grazioli and Soares, twice, went close to extending the League Two side's advantage. Attacking responses from the Championship outfit were ineffective, with Buzsaky wastefully sending a free-kick from out on the right into the arms of Tynan.
Scott turned to his bench midway through the second half when he pitched Djordjic into action, in place of Taylor. The former Manchester United man operated on the left of midfield, as the Pilgrims switched to a 4-4-2 shape.
Buzsaky took up a more central role, and the Hungarian almost equalised in the 73rd minute with a fabulous open-play strike from long range which swerved, dipped and rebounded off the bar with Tynan nowhere near making a save.
It would have been a goal to savour, but it was the home side who were looking the likelier scorers in a second period which they dominated. Sinclair and King both sent shots across goal and wide as the Devon team's defenders looked uncomfortable and uncertain.
Derbyshire, after a slip by Tynan, and Chadwick, from a Buzsaky cross, did have attempts at goal, but neither Argyle forward was able to hit the target. Derbyshire, with a close-range header, and Chadwick, with a 20-yard drive, also had chances in injury time, but the Pilgrims hardly deserved an equaliser after their second-half showing.
SHOCKING
Plymouth Argyle crashed out of the Carling Cup last night when they succumbed to a lacklustre 2-1 second-round defeat to a team who were playing non-League football last season.
The Pilgrims rested several first-team regulars at Barnet, who won the Nationwide Conference title in 2004-05, and conceded early goals in each half to the Hertfordshire outfit. A splendid free-kick by Akos Buzsaky was all that Argyle could manage in response, as they missed out on the chance to earn some much-needed income from progress in this competition.
With managerial candidate Tony Pulis among the crowd at Underhill last night, Jocky Scott could have been taking charge of Argyle for the final time last night. If that is the case, the coach who has been at the helm as caretaker since the departure of Bobby Williamson this month has bowed out in disappointing fashion.
"It definitely wasn't good enough," Scott said after seeing the Coca-Cola League Two outfit gain a fully merited victory at Underhill. "They wanted to win the game more than we did, which is a bad thing but it's true.
"We were asleep for their first goal and we allowed them to take a short corner-kick. It was a hell of a strike [by Simon King] at the end of it, but we were still asleep. As for their second goal, we'd talked to the players at half-time but 21 seconds later we were a goal down again." Giuliano Grazioli took advantage of Argyle's faulty attempt at an offside trap to plunder Barnet's winner.
"It just wasn't good enough," Scott added. "We didn't create enough, and they had almost all the chances." The Pilgrims had taken four points from their last two Coca-Cola Championship games to aid their fight against relegation, but against supposedly inferior opposition last night they were found wanting.
"The results we gained from the Crewe game and the Burnley game came from commitment, determination and desire, but unfortunately it wasn't there tonight," Scott concluded. Argyle are expected to make a managerial appointment before Saturday's trip to Southampton.
