A brace from Glenn Poole was enough to give the Bees from Griffin Park a 2-1 victory at Underhill, a goal in time added on by Barnet's Adam Birchall narrowed the score, but Brentford are now unbeaten in eight games and the Bees from Underhill have just lost three games in succession.
The visitors opened brightly and immediately took the game to Barnet with Max Porter needing to be alert to turn a dangerous cross from the right away for a corner in the early stages.
Barnet however quickly recovered and kicking with the slope mounted wave after wave of attack. Albert Adomah on the left and Kieron St Aimie, who was making his very first start in League football on the right, were proving difficult to handle as they were determined to attack their full backs.
Ismail Yakubu and Adomah hit the woodwork in the first half, Neal Bishop took the ball through a forest of Brentford defenders only to blaze wide and Birchall had many a strike on the Brentford goal. Ben Hamer, on loan from Reading, had a good game and was called into service on many occasions.
However, on 36 minutes Brentford took the lead with a move down their left. Alan Connell made progress and slipped a neat pass into the path of Poole who lashed a shot past Rob Beckwith.
Five minutes into the second period Brentford were reduced to ten men when Gary Smith was shown his second yellow card, the consequence being that the visitors set up two solid banks of four, in effect asking Barnet if they had the guile to manage to break them down.
It is not a revelation, a trade secret or insider trading to discern that in order to win football matches you need to score goals and in recent weeks Barnet have failed to convert into goals the numerous chances they have created. Few can argue with Paul Fairclough's assertion though that in the last two games his team have played better than their opponents, yet for all the endeavours not a single point has been added to the tally.
There is only one thing worse in football than not taking your chances and that is not creating any in the first place. Barnet are creating chances in abundance and despite the disappointment that naturally comes with defeat whilst opportunities to score are being created a case can be made that this corner can be turned.
The Barnet boss thinks that his young players will deal with this setback well and not become despondent. After the match he stated his belief in them as a group and expressed pride in their performances of late.
Eventually Brentford came out of their shell and mounted a breakaway, Kenny Gillet with a rash challenge gave away a needless penalty which Poole duly converted in the 79th minute.
A minute from the end of normal time Joe Devera nearly scored his first goal for the club, but Hamer was equal to his near post flick and pushed the ball away for a corner.
In time added on Adomah took the ball from out wide on the left on the half way line and drove directly at the Brentford defence. He weaved his way into the penalty area and the ball fell kindly this time to Birchall who scored his 9th goal of the season. Adomah showed tonight that he is really beginning to settle to the demands of football at this level.
There was not enough time remaining to threaten again and the visitors will probably congratulate themselves for winning this London derby, playing much of the second half with ten men and showing great resilience under pressure. Their manger had castigated his players at half time, saying that they had played poorly and had Barnet taken their chances they would have been "home and dry." But Barnet hadn't taken their chances, which gave Brentford the opportunity to go and stake a claim for three points when at half time they would likely have been content with just the one.
David Bloomfield