Ian Hendon's Barnet recorded their first away victory of 2009 with a well deserved 2-0 scoreline against automatic promotion seeking Gillingham at Priestfield this afternoon with goals from the striking duo of Paul Furlong and John O'Flynn.
Every Barnet player played their part in this victory, everyone had a good game, but in particular Gary Breen, Matt Lockwood, Nicky Deverdics and Paul Furlong made outstanding contributions.
With a good performance behind them at Wycombe on Tuesday Barnet again started with the same 16.
In the 14th minute Furlong signalled his intent when he turned on the edge of the penalty area with his shot flashing narrowly wide of the target.
Minutes later a moment of trickery on the left flank by Andew Barcham almost led to the Gills scoring first but Jake Cole was on hand to nullify the danger.
On 23 minutes the Bees took the lead when O'Flynn advanced down the right and despite being confronted by Simon King his cross was met by Furlong who guided his header beyond Simon Royce into the corner of the net.
The home side tried to respond immediately but Breen was on hand to deal with an effort by Simeon Jackson and conceded a corner.
Barnet were keen in the tackle when the Gills had the ball, with Lockwood and Deverdics repeatedly timing their challenges to perfection.
Early in the second half Barnet had to weather a series of Gills attacks but with Breen imperious and Cole looking impregnable the home side became increasingly desperate and frantic in their efforts to draw level.
With eight minutes of the second half gone Furlong was crudely felled by Mark Bentley inside the penalty area for a spot kick which O'Flynn confidently despatched into the top left hand corner.
Two goals to the good Barnet grew in confidence as the second half wore on. Gillingham adopted a more adventurous 4-3-3 formation, but it made little impact.
A delightful move involving Albert Adomah and O'Flynn saw the Bees top scorer set up a chance for Furlong to give Barnet a three goal advantage, but his effort was bundled clear.
The Gills continued to huff and puff without any great degree of cohesion or belief and although Gary Richards was almost on hand to reduce the deficit the visitors looked the more composed and determined.
Post match Ian Hendon said that he felt his Barnet have been building up to this victory with the good performance at Brentford and the point at Wycombe, the three points being the reward that comes from a display that was almost free from error.
(Ex-Bees Josh Wright making his debut for Gillingham looked a little short of match practice and Simon King will be relieved that he doesn't face a player of Furlong's calibre every week)
The Bees play inform Rotherham on Tuesday at Underhill.
David Bloomfield.
