Carlisle United 1 Barnet 0

FA Cup first round

Barnet made a tame exit from the FA Cup, much to the disappointment of their fans who made the 600-mile round trip to Brunton Park on Tuesday.

Poor defending by the Bees allowed Steve Soley to grab what proved to be Carlisle's winner after 57 minutes.

Soley was all alone as he met a cross from Brendan McGill and headed into the unguarded net.

Angry Barnet boss John Still complained: "The goal should have been disallowed for offside. But we had enough chances to have won."

After a promising start, in a dull game of few scoring opportunities, the Bees were unable to repeat the fluent play evident in a run of good league form.

In the second minute, from a long Lee Flynn throw, Ben Strevens helped the ball on with a spectacular overhead kick, Wayne Purser steered it goalwards with his head, forcing a good save from Peter Keen.

The keeper was unable to cling on to the ball and an attempted clearance struck Barnet's Stuart Niven in the back, the ball trickling agonisingly the wrong side of the post.

Chances were missed by the Bees when Leon Bell fired straight at the keeper and Mark Arber headed over when he should have hit the target.

Following a near miss by Carlisle's Ritchie Foran, Barnet captain Greg Heald was unlucky with a header that was cleared off the line.

Three minutes before the interval, Bees' keeper Lee Harrison pulled off a magnificent save. A header by Ian Stevens was bound for the net until Harrison's outstretched arm tipped the ball upwards and over the bar.

After Soley struck the decisive blow, Barnet rarely looked likely to save the day, apart from half-chances when Heald headed over and Mark Gower was off target.

BARNET: Harrison, Gledhill, Heald, Arber, Flynn, Niven (Midgley 70), Bell (Toms 59), Gower, Strevens, Purser. Substitutes not used: Naisbitt, Pluck, Berkley.

Attendance: 1,470. Man of the match: Arber.

November 28, 2001 19:35

JOHN POLLARD