Two John Akinde penalties were enough for bottom of the table Barnet to defeat Crewe Alexandra at The Hive yesterday afternoon, despite Harry McKirdy scoring his second goal in as many games to level the score.
Manager David Artell made 1 change from last Saturday`s team that beat Newport County with James Jones making his first start of the season coming in for Tom Lowery, who dropped down to the bench as the matchday 18 was the same as last week.
The opening chance of the game came in the 9th minute of the game as Alex Nicholls went down under pressure from Crewe captain George Ray with referee Lee Swabey turning down the protests of both the home players and crowd with the next effort coming on 27 minutes with Ryan Watson shot straight at Ben Garratt from 30 yards.
Another effort came from Nicholls a few minutes later went just past the post whilst Crewe`s first effort came with 10 minutes before half-time as Jones fired over from the edge of the penalty area with Callum Ainley testing Craig Ross with a volley from distance. Barnet could have led at the break but for some resilient defending in a goal-mouth scramble from the Alex defenders.
Into the second half and it was the Bees that did take the lead 5 minutes after the break as Simeon Akinola was brought down by Jones with Akinde sending Garratt the wrong way with the penalty. Mid-way through the second period saw the next chance with Paul Green and Jordan Bowery combine to see the former Republic of Ireland international force Ross into a great save diving to his left before McKirdy equalised with 20 minutes to play.
Ainley`s free-kick was kept alive by Ray at the back-post with his header turned in by the on-loan Villa striker from close-range. Barnet substitute Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro hit the bar with a volley from the edge of the area before Ray brought down another of the Bees subs, former Alex trialist Shaq Coulthirst, with Akinde scoring into the top-corner.
Crewe`s next game sees Port Vale play at the Alexandra Stadium on Monday afternoon.
Crewe: Garratt; Ng, Nolan, Ray ©, Pickering; Ainley, Green, Jones (Wintle 58), Kirk (Lowery 74); McKirdy (Dagnall 85), Bowery
Barnet: Ross; Brindley, Santos, Nelson (Shomotun 77), Tutonda; Nicholls (Akpa-Akpro 74), Sweeney ©, Weston, Watson, Akinola (Coulthirst 59); Akinde
