The Barnet Bees, as an American journalist watching his first game of English football who sat next to me in the press box referred to the team in old gold and black stripes, recorded a memorable and deserved victory at the home of MK Dons, the runaway leaders of League 2, with a goal from skipper Ismail Yakubu mid way through the first half.

As Paul Fairclough was later to say, the home side might have enjoyed the greater percentage of possession, but it was Barnet who had more authority when they had the ball. As the game progressed the attempts by MK Dons to score against the Bees became more ragged and desperate as they began to repeatedly pump high balls into the Barnet penalty box hoping that things would fall in their favour.

Rejoining Barnet on loan for the rest of the season Josh Wright was the only change from the line up that took on Swindon Town last weekend, he replaced the suspended Michael Leary. The Bees stuck with the 4-5-1 formation that had served them so well in the previous two away fixtures.

If it is possible to put on one side the pain that the birth of MK Dons engendered only a curmudgeon would find fault with the remarkable stadium that has emerged. Perhaps stadium:MK is destined to play host to top flight football in the future but the Barnet team that played today were determined not to be bit part players and indicated from the first whistle that they were fully willing and able to contest the points on offer.

Before Yakubu gave Barnet the lead Jason Puncheon, Cliff Akurang and Ashley Carew all had efforts on goal that may not have troubled the home keeper overmuch, but they indicated that the Bees were certainly capable of taking the game to their opponents.

The winning goal game in the 22nd minute. A cross to the far post by Puncheon was not cleared and there lurking, looming, large and unmarked was Yakubu who joyfully thumped the ball into the roof of the net. Of course that meant that the scene was set for a home side onslaught for the remainder of the match and that is largely what happened, but it was the manner in which Barnet defended and then conjured up a few forward forays of their own that merit praise.

Joe Devera, again operating at centre back, was magnificent. His pace over the first few yards enables him to intercept, block and counter most moves by his opponents. His defensive heading and that of Yakubu was also of a high quality and even when they were confronted with the twin strike force of Drew Broughton and Aaron Wilbraham, acting as a partnership they nullified this avenue of attack. Max Porter at right back had such control over the highly rated - by some - Lloyd Dyer that he was substituted with over half an hour remaining.

Akurang, the lone striker, worked tirelessly and intelligently and Wright, only 18 years of age, is increasingly able to impose his will on games, even when his opponent is the Dons skipper Keith Andrews who has been able boss the midfield in many matches this season.

MK Dons started the second half with renewed determination and they did threaten on occasion during this period, Andrews having headers and shots that flashed wide, but as assured as Rob Beckwith in the Barnet goal looked he was not asked to perform miracles to preserve his clean sheet.

As the clocked ticked down, second by second, it looked increasingly likely that a momentous victory was about to become a reality and finally, after 4 minutes added time, it was fact and it was good to be a Bee from Barnet.

After the match Paul Fairclough admitted that he needs to ponder long and hard about the formation he has been deploying in the last three matches, all away, now that his team face three consecutive home fixtures, the first of which is The FA Cup Third Round Replay against Swindon on Tuesday at Underhill.

David Bloomfield