Hartlepool United 0 Barnet 1

A Barnet winner was always going to come from an unlikely source.

The Bees, with no natural strikers on the pitch, knew they would have to rely on someone else to take centre stage if they were to get anything from their long trip to the seaside.

Step up Barry Cogan.

His bolt out of the blue, seven minutes from time, made Hartlepool pay for squandering a whole host of chances.

But Cogan was perhaps the last person you would have expected to earn Barnet a second consecutive league win.

The midfielder had disappointed in his previous game and some were surprised he had been given the nod in a five-man midfield, with Magno Vieira, the club's only fit striker, on the bench.

However, manager Paul Fairclough's faith in Cogan reaped a huge reward.

He said: "I'm pleased for everyone at the club. This is the first back-to-back wins we have had this season."

Fairclough said his side deserved to win, but he had to admit they rode their luck.

Hartlepool hit the woodwork twice and had two efforts disallowed, not to mention the countless times they were denied by poor finishing or superb saves from keeper Lee Harrison.

Fairclough said: "You do need a bit of good fortune, but you have to be strong and resolute."

There was no doubt Barnet were that. The defenders in particular worked their socks off and threw themselves in front of shots as the hosts became more and more frustrated.

Hartlepool dominated the first half, but the Bees slowly began to edge their way into the match in the second half and then delivered the classic sucker punch.

Nicky Bailey won a tackle in midfield and set Cogan off. The winger ran at the home defence in a central position and cracked a 25-yard shot into the corner. It was a brilliant strike and well beyond the reach of the diving Dimitrios Konstantopoulos in the home goal.

The Pools will wonder how they never had the game wrapped up long before.

But Harrison was in particularly fine form. His spectacular tip- over in injury time from a Gary Liddle free-kick was the best of his saves.

The first half had belonged to Hartlepool, but they could not find a way through.

Barnet, with Dean Sinclair playing in a more advanced midfield role to bring support to lone striker Paul Warhurst, created very little and could have had no complaints if they had gone in at the break a goal down.

Darryl Duffy saw a header ruled out for offside, while Harrison pulled off an instinctive save to somehow push a Jon Daly snapshot on to the bar and over. The keeper then denied Liddle from another free-kick just before the break.

The pressure continued into the second half.

David Foley headed over from six yards, while Harrison pulled off a superb block to keep out a Michael Nelson bullet header.

Nelson then saw a looping header bounce off the bar with 20 minutes to go.

However, by this time, Barnet were starting to create some opportunities of their own in what was now an open game.

Cogan and Nicky Nicolau came close with long-range efforts before the former let fly to earn the injury-hit Bees a precious three points.