Barnet 0
Stevenage 3
League (League Two)

Match report written by James Ronayne, The Comet

Boro gained derby day bragging rights as two goals from John Mousinho and a tap-in from Mark Roberts gave Graham Westley’s side all three points at Underhill.

In the end it was a comfortable evening for Boro but it could have all been different had on-loan Luton Town striker Kevin Gallen accepted two gilt-edged chances offered to him by the Boro defence with the game still goalless.

The veteran forward twice found himself in behind the Boro defence but on neither occasion was he able to even work Chris Day in the Boro goal.

Westley gave a full debut to Ben May who started in place of Stacy Long as Boro signalled their intentions by starting the game with two out-and-out strikers.

Barnet boss Mark Stimson started with former Boro men Jordan Parkes and Mark Hughes but Craig Dobson, who netted for Boro in the 2007 Trophy Final victory at Wembley and who signed for the Bees on Monday, had to make do with a spot on the bench.

Boro nearly found themselves behind inside 60 seconds as Hughes hooked the ball over his head and onto the crossbar from an acute angle following a Mark Marshall corner.

Westley’s side went close themselves three minutes later as Chris Holroyd sped down the left wing and picked out Mousinho only for the midfielder’s well placed shot to be tipped onto the bar by Barnet stopper Jake Cole.

The home side were clearly fired up for the game and they continued to probe for the opening goal.

The Bees really should have been in front when Gallen was presented with the first of his excellent chances. Jon Ashton sliced Parkes’ long ball forward straight into the path of the veteran striker who raced in on goal. Scott Laird did brilliantly to recover and slid in to put the striker off but he really should have beaten Day from close range.

The Boro defence were guilty of some uncharacteristic errors in the opening half an hour and one such slip up by Ronnie Henry allowed Marshall to race in on goal but Day did well to parry at the near post with Laird on hand once more to clean up.

Marshall’s pace eventually forced Boro to switch Lawrie Wilson to right-back and Henry into the midfield but the change failed to stop Gallen from finding himself clean on goal once more.

The 35-year-old front man again got clear of the Boro backline but Ashton recovered well to execute a perfect slide tackle that removed any danger just as Gallen was about to pull the trigger.

Then against the run of play Boro opened the scoring in the 27th minute. Neat build up play on the edge of the Barnet box resulted in May feeding Mousinho and the Boro midfielder found the bottom left hand corner of Cole’s net with a fierce shot from 20 yards.

Barnet heads dropped after the goal and Boro began to dominate proceedings.

Wilson felt he should have had a penalty when he was clipped in the penalty area after a surging run down the right but all that was forthcoming from referee Patrick Miller was a yellow card for the Boro man.

Then with 33 minutes of the game gone Boro doubled their advantage with a beautifully simple goal. Henry hung a free kick up to the far post and Michael Bostwick rose highest to knock the ball across the face of goal where Roberts was on hand to stab the ball home from a matter of inches.


Barnet looked in need of half time and had Holroyd been on target with a long-range effort they could have found themselves even further behind at the break.

Boro made a double change at the interval replacing Ashton, who had been booked, and May with Luke Foster and Yemi Odubade.

A loose pass from Holroyd was seized upon by Gallen who unthreaded the Boro defence with a clever pass to Glen Southam who in turn fed Mauro Vilhete but the Barnet wide man went down in the box and the referee ignored what few protests there were from the home side.

Barnet went close to reducing the deficit with a well-struck free kick from Grant Basey but Day was more than equal to it and pushed the ball to safety.

The second half chugged along with neither side looking like adding to the scores until Boro were awarded a penalty for handball against Joe Devera.

Stacy Long’s free kick to the far post was met by Bostwick whose header hit the defender’s hand and referee Miller had no hesitation in awarding the spot kick.

Despite Cole diving the right way Mousinho’s penalty was perfectly dispatched low and right in the corner of the net.

Almost immediately from the restart Boro came within a whisker of goal number four as Odubade’s speculative shot from 30 yards beat Cole but crashed off the crossbar.

Trickery from Marshall tight to the byline nearly forced an error from the Boro defence but Roberts’ sliced clearance hit the frame of the goal and rolled to safety.

The Bees did have the ball in the back of the net in the 89th minute but Mark Byrne’s diving header was ruled out for offside as Boro held on for their fifth clean sheet of the season and a welcome three points.