Stockport County 1 Barnet 1

Coca Cola League 2

COUNTY had a great opportunity to turn in a good performance in front of the watching nation on Sunday - and they fluffed it.

Particularly in the first half Chris Turner's men rarely showed anything like the creativity and guile which had so impressively contributed to the previous weekend's richly-deserved cup win over Swansea.

The Hatters remain unbeaten at home, but unfortunately much-needed victories remain scarce.

Although Tes Bramble was fit and available, it perhaps wasn't too surprising that Turner opted to stick with the same starting XI that did so well against Swansea. Bramble was on the bench with Ludovic Dje continuing up front.

On a beautiful autumn afternoon it was Barnet - who were on a miserable run of just one win in 12 games - who threatened first with less than two minutes on the clock. Louie Soars drove a low shot in from 15 yards which Keith Briggs almost diverted into his own goal.

Nervous-looking County eventually got into something of a stride and on 11 minutes Jermaine Easter shook off Ismail Yakubu before firing in a low shot which went just wide.

Barnet are the kind of side County must be beating if they are to make significant progress though, and on 15 minutes they broke the deadlock when Harpal Singh's teasing cross was eventually smashed home by Matty Hamshaw at the far post.

The joy was sweet, but also short-lived as just two minutes later Jason Norville poked home the equaliser at the near post following Soars' dangerous cross.

Ian Hendon got up well to head just wide for the visitors, then as the half-hour mark approached James Spencer was at his acrobatic best to twice deny Ben Strevens in rapid succession.

The Bees were steadily making an increased contribution and on 37 minutes Norville squared for Liam Hatch, but he wastefully blasted wide with only Spencer to beat.

Bramble was quite correctly brought on at the interval for the hugely disappointing Dje, and he almost immediately flicked the ball on for Singh at the far post but his volley was cleared off the line by Nicky Bailey.

At the other end Strevens headed against the crossbar, but the Hatters responded with a couple of efforts of their own, most notably from Hamshaw who volleyed narrowly wide.

On 64 minutes Bramble ought to have put the home side ahead when he rose unmarked but headed Hamshaw's sweet cross just wide, then less than a minute later Hamshaw was again the provider with Easter volleying straight at Bees goalkeeper Ross Flitney.

Barnet always looked a threat on the break, however, and with the clock running down Hatch was left free inside the box but Mark Robinson diverted his low shot thankfully wide.

And the visitors so nearly snatched it at the death when Dean Sinclair saw his cross-cum-shot dramatically tipped over the bar by Spencer.

It's a fair result in a game of two halves

COUNTY boss Chris Turner seemed happy enough to acknowledge that Sunday's televised home draw against Barnet was a fair outcome.

With the eyes of the nation on Stockport, the home side did go in front early on thanks to Matt Hamshaw's third goal of the season, but Jason Norville quickly hit back with his first-ever goal for the Bees.

In the end it was a point that the visitors deserved as the stage-struck Hatters looked particularly out-of-sorts in the first half.

They were quite fortunate to go in the break level, but to their credit County bossed the second 45 minutes and should have converted at least one of numerous chances.

Turner said after the game: "That was a fair result, Barnet had the first half and we had the second.

"Obviously I was disappointed at half-time, the bonus was for us to come in at one-one.

"But the players responded to my half-time team talk and we took the game to Barnet. I counted six or seven good chances to have won the game, including one fantastic save from their goalkeeper near the end.

"We're still unbeaten at home, but of course we'd have preferred the three points. We can't be greedy though, it was an entertaining game with chances at both ends.

"We didn't play well at all in the first half, when we scored I think the players thought that it was going to be a nice easy afternoon and that they would look good on television, but you can't afford to do that at this level. We're not here to play the pretty stuff until we're two or three goals up, we've got to do the things that get your noses in front and then continue to do them.

"The cameras did have an effect, they do at Premiership level, it makes it a different afternoon altogether out there. And there were six-and-a-half thousand supporters here too which was fantastic.

"The people that did come saw an entertaining game, and in the second half we showed what we can do so hopefully a lot of them will come back."

Turner added: "We've got a tough game next week at Orient, but I heard [Barnet manager] Paul Fairclough saying on the telly earlier that if they'd won today they'd only be three or four points away from the play-off places.

"If we'd have won we'd have just been six or seven points away, League Two is a very tight division.

"If we keep picking up points, and particularly wins, we'll soon be in mid-table where we need to be."