Ten-man Barnet slip to foot of table after defeat

TEN-MAN Barnet dropped to the foot of the League Two table after they were brushed aside by Torquay United at Underhill.

A bright start in which the Bees created several clear-cut chances suggested the team would continue their recent resurgence under Paul Fairclough. But the game turned on its head in two first-half minutes, Lathaniel Rowe-Turner giving the visitors the lead with their first meaningful attack of the match, before hosts' debutant Anthony Pulis was sent off for a dangerous tackle.

The double blow sucked the life out of Barnet, and despite a lively period after the break, Billy Kee put the game beyond them with a sweet left-footed finish 15 minutes from time.

Chris Zebroski thumped in a third that had too much power for Jake Cole to compound the Bees' woes.

Barnet settled quickly against the Guls, and it was not long before they were threatening the visitors' backline.

Clovis Kamdjo, always eager to join the attack, worked his way to the byline and, after his initial cross was blocked back to his feet, saw a subsequent shot from a tight angle fly over the bar.

On ten minutes the Bees perhaps should have taken the lead, especially given that the chance fell to red-hot striker Izale McLeod. He was played through on the right side of the box but, after delaying his shot, then made a mess of trying to turn back inside and the ball escaped his control.

The pressure continued unabated and McLeod was again guilty of a poor miss in front of goal, where usually he would be so deadly. A hopeful ball was lofted into the area and the striker, who had evaded his marker, appeared only to have to volley the ball past the advancing Danny Potter, but he fluffed his lines and the danger was averted.

Still Barnet surged forward, Kamdjo reaching the byline on the right once more and drilling the ball across the face of goal that was too hot for Potter to handle, but the lurking Mark Marshall could not capitalise on the loose ball.

Anwar Uddin also saw a powerful header sail over the bar before 25 minutes were on the clock.

It was a spell of pressure that the hosts really ought to have profited from, and they were to pay the ultimate price, the game turning on its head in the space of two minutes.

First, the revolving front three of Kee, Jake Robinson and Chris Zebroski combined to create the chance for Rowe-Turner to drill home the opener.

Robinson's backheel set Zebroski down the line and his low cross reached Kee. The striker struggled to gain control of the ball and appeared to be cleaned out from behind by an opponent, but referee Peter Quinn was not required to make a decision as left-back Turner arrived to curl a shot in to the bottom corner.

When the situation called for cool heads in choppy waters, Pulis went and lost his.

In his first game for the club since arriving on loan until the end of the season from Southampton, the midfielder launched in to a reckless, high challenge on Zebroski and was swiftly given his marching orders.

Play was further held up with players from both sides getting involved in the fracas and Torquay's Chris Robertson and Barnet's Tommy Fraser were both shown yellow cards.

The seismic shift in momentum was complete, and for the rest of the half Torquay dominated proceedings, with Bees boss Fairclough pulling Steve Kabba back in to midfield to cope with the loss of Pulis.

Zebroski came close to a second for the away side, advancing from midfield and firing goalwards from the edge of the box, but Jake Cole was up to the task.

The beginning of the second half was almost a carbon copy of the first, Barnet flying out of the traps, with Fairclough taking off the game's other debutant Sam Deering and putting on Glen Southam.

Marshall was tucked inside in attempt to influence play from a central role, while Kabba was pushed back up front alongside McLeod as the Bees went in search of an equaliser.

Torquay's Craig Stanley got away with a yellow card after bringing down McLeod, who had managed to get the wrong side of the midfielder and was bearing down on goal, having latched on to Marshall's hopeful lofted pass. But Tommy Fraser's tame effort from the subsequent free-kick was easily dealt with by Potter.

Marshall, with excellent quick feet, then wriggled away from two defenders and burst in to the box only to wastefully drill the ball wide of the upright.

Barnet, to their credit, were going for broke and they had Torquay on the rack.

Kabba appeared to be hauled back in the box but play was allowed to go on, and from a cross seconds later Fraser nodded just over the bar.

Down the other end and Torquay almost repeated their smash and grab of the first half. A corner was not dealt with by Cole and Jordan Parkes was forced to hack the ball off the goalline. Cole then picked himself up to repel a shot from the edge of the area.

As the game wore on the game descended in to a scrappy affair, with Barnet appearing to run out of ideas and puff in their search for a leveller.

Joe Devera did managed to keep the hosts in the contest with a vital last-ditch tackle on Kee, who was just about to pull the trigger having been sent clear through on goal.

However, Barnet were put out of their misery when they were hit on the counter-attack with 15 minutes to play. Substitute Ryan Gilligan's superb cross-field ball found Kee, who had peeled off his marker and he thundered a shot inside the far post for the cushion of a second goal.

Zebroski drilled in the third from an acute angle after he got the better of Kamdjo down the right.

Results elsewhere down the bottom mean Barnet are now two points adrift at the foot of the table.

Barnet: Cole, Devera, Parkes, Uddin, Kabba, Deering (Southam 45), Pulis, Marshall, Kamdjo, McLeod (Stimson 81), Fraser (Hughes 76). Subs: Jarvis, Dunleavy, O'Brien, Vilhete

Attendance: 2168