[Phil Whalley]

Just in from Barnet – well done Stanley boys, they came through a backs-to-the-wall period of the game and took the points at the end. Man of the match? Robbie Williams for me. Barnet had a lot of second-half possession and lumped a lot of high balls into the box but won very few headers and generally found clear chances hard to come by. Rocky also made a couple of superb full-stretch tackles to deny the shot on goal. Our Polish keeper made one great save and very solidly dealt with a lot of routine stuff, he was quick off his line and generally kicked well. Almeida did well too, not the quickest but a big lad who got stuck in and though he was evidently amazed at what the ref would allow, he got on with it and gave little away.
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I thought we were the better team in the first half, knocked it around confidently and just about deserved the lead, a handball at the back post was spotted by the ref, Toddy tucked it away no problem. But we were cursing soon after. There were shouts for offside as the Barnet player was sent free down the right and then again for a foul, but we should have cleared before the chance emerged. I thought this was Kaz’s one dodgy moment in goal – he spilled the centre from the right and their player nipped in to score. Second-half saw Stanley chasing a lot of the time, they found it difficult to keep possession and the substitution of Harris for Procky was perplexing at the time. But Stanley kept them out and Barnet’s momentum was definitely checked by the sending off, as it seemed to take them a while to sort themselves out. Just before the sending off, Coley made what proved to be a highly astute move by taking Boco off and bringing Whalley on. Rommy had a good game, he was very energetic without really making a definitive mark of the game, but he was running out of steam towards the end, and Whalley really went for it, running at the Barnet defence with pace. Suddenly, Stanley found new momentum, especially down the right, where Toddy and Mangan were combining well and creating clear openings. It was from one of these that the ball fell to Procky on the right hand side of the goal, and he thrashed it in from eight yards. Mangan then found himself clean through but hit the keeper, and then, after the ref found five minutes of extra time from somewhere beyond north London, Whalley also had a 1-on-1 with the keeper but again missed. We were tearing our hair out on the away end at this, but the ref then sent another of theirs off, and this knackered Barnet and we saw the game out relatively okay.
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We’ll play better than this and lose before the season’s out, but this reminded me of non-league Stanley riding their luck on a promotion charge and emerging at the end rewarded for going for the win. The defence contained the heroes, but Whalley decisively changed the momentum of the game. As Gree says: great win, great day. Nipped down to the Wenlock for a few after-match pints and someone had the good taste to put the Las album on, which allowed me to bask happily in the achievements of not one but two sets of Liverpool lads who showed the world what they could do.
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Have a good evening everyone.
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Phil