A good thing has come to an end. A run of ten league matches without defeat came to an abrupt halt at Gigg Lane as the Bees were ultimately convincingly defeated by a Bury outfit, who themselves, are unbeaten in nine.

Barnet were unchanged from the line up that started against Accrington Stanley a week before, although they welcomed back, albeit to the substitutes bench, Kenny Gillet who had recovered from a metatarsal injury.

In front of the travelling Barnet supporters, on 16 minutes an Ashley Carew corner was met by a downward header by Liam Hatch, but Referee Miller adjudged that an infringement had occurred and the goal was struck from the records.

From a Bees perspective this was a harsh decision and on reflection it could perhaps be seen as the defining moment of the game. From this decision the game began to slowly slip away.

With almost half an hour gone Glynn Hurst should have given the home side the lead when he flashed the ball into the side netting when well positioned. This was a let-off for the Bees, but it was short lived as moments later the Shakers took the lead.

Nicky Adams skipped purposefully down the right wing for Bury and delivered an inviting cross than Hurst, with a one-touch finish, steered past Lee Harrison.

Although trailing to the one goal advantage that Bury has established Barnet could justifiably claim that they were certainly still in the game as the second half began.

However on 53 minutes the Bury striker Nicky Adams found himself free and cutting in from the left he finished well as his right foot strike found the back of the net. The Shakers, now two to the good would take some shifting from their position of dominance.

With over half an hour remaining manager Paul Fairclough made a triple substitution in an effort to revive his team. On came Michael Leary, Kenny Gillet and Jason Norville, replacing Ashley Carew, Nicky Nicolau and Jason Puncheon as Barnet reassembled their forces into a more attacking 4-3-3 formation. This move did introduce a modicum of pep into the Bees play and soon after Adam Birchall did well to carve out a chance for himself but his left footed effort did not test the Bury keeper.

Barnet continued to enjoy a significant portion of play, but it was Bury who dropped deep, content to allow the Bees to have the ball in front of them.

Four minutes from time a crisp finish by Nicky Adams extinguished any faint hopes that Barnet had of hanging onto their unbeaten run, with local observers being of the opinion that this was the best Shakers display of the season.

Boss Fairclough after the match praised the performance of Bury and was disappointed in the manner in which Barnet had lost their unbeaten tag. He thinks that the manner in which Barnet now respond to this set back will be significant and that the home fixture on Tuesday against Notts County provides a quick opportunity to test this theory.

In the final moments Liam Hatch twisted his ankle and left the pitch as Barnet played out the game with ten men. He must be a major doubt for the Notts County fixture.

At the whistle the travelling Bees generously applauded the players, perhaps not so much for the display on the day, but rather for the considerable efforts that had been put in over the previous unbeaten ten league mtches.

David Bloomfield