STANLEY 0

BARNET  2
Bishop 53, Leary 82

THE pre-season talk was of automatic promotion.

Mid-season it had turned to perhaps a play-off push. Then it was a top half of the table finish.

But, by the finale of the season, it was just a relief to be safe in League Two.

In the summer, manager John Coleman spoke about building a platform to start the season and then pushing on for a top seven spot.

But the Reds could never quite do this, unable to string a run of results together, and Coleman’s pre-season hope of a "best every squad" disintergrated in another battle against the drop.

Back-to-back wins - a rarity this season - against Brentford and Rotherham at the beginning of March more or less sealed the Reds’ safety and these proved necessary judging by the run which has followed.

Including Saturday’s defeat at Barnet, the Reds have lost seven of their last nine games - scoring eight goals and conceding 18.

Luckily the teams below have also struggled and, on Saturday despite the loss, League Two football was secured next season, thanks to other results.

Coleman has said he can’t put his finger on what has gone wrong this season.

He has never found the right defensive combination and 80 goals conceded mean the fans haven’t been short of action in Reds’ matches - but the goals have gone in at the wrong end.

The goals scored column has also made worrying reading for a team used to scoring at will.

Paul Mullin has got 13 goals this season and midfielder Andy Procter has excelled previous targets with 11. But Roscoe Dsane is next with eight goals and, considering he was sold to Torquay in January, the other players have not been able to chip in regularly enough.

And forward players will be on Coleman’s shopping list in the summer as he looks to make wholesale changes.

"Over the season, forget we have a bad defensive record - we have been shocking defensively - but we usually counter this by being good going forward," he said.

"But this season we have been nowhere near good enough going forward.

"Now my job is to try and get a squad of players together that is right for next season."

The management had talked about having a resounding end to the season but, with two games left, it is petering out with barely a whimper.

Saturday’s loss in the penultimate home game of the season was disappointing.

Barnet manager Paul Fairclough had never won at Stanley in non-league and League days but he saw his free flowing mid-table side deal with the windy conditions the best to see off the Reds.

He joked: "It feels like I have been coming here since I was ten years old and I have never won anything - so it is satisfying for me to come here and win."

And he had every reason to smile as his side never really looked in trouble until the final five minutes when the Reds did rally - but were already 2-0 down.

Coleman brought back Leam Richardson after his one game ban and he was up against young winger Albert Adomah, who is being watched by a host of Premier League scouts.

In fairness, the left back did well to limit Adomah but, in the few times he got away, the 20-year-old did show his trickery although his finishing let him down. He almost made an impact in the first minute when Stanley were caught out by a short back pass but the wideman couldn’t find the target.

From then on it was a list of Bees chances, with their experienced top scorer Adam Birchall firing just over and another highly-rated winger Jason Puncheon - wanted by Leeds United in January - hitting a free kick against the post on 14 minutes.

Stanley just couldn’t seem to find their feet and were struggling to get out of their own half as the windy April weather played their part.

Adomah had another chance well-saved by Kenny Arthur while the Reds keeper denied Birchall again before half-time.

And the home fans held their breath after Cliff Akurang and Jay Harris had a coming together with the Reds midfielder swinging his arm at the striker although he didn’t make firm contact.

Akurang did roll around like he had been shot and luckily for Harris, referee Kevin Wright just held up a yellow card for both of them.

The Reds had the wind advantage after the break and Coleman said he expected his side to have a good go at it.

A Shaun Whalley cross-come-shot hit the top of the crossbar while Bobby Grant’s free kick wasn’t far off.

But it proved a false dawn as the Bees finally got the goal that had been coming.

A quick break saw Birchall’s shot charged down by Phil Edwards but the striker had another go and chipped the ball to the far post while midfielder Neal Bishop had a free header to direct home the opener on 54 minutes.

To be fair, Stanley could have equalised when Whalley showed what he can do by making space for himself on the wing and his deflected effort hit the crossbar.

Goal hero Bishop was stretchered off with knee ligament damage while trying to clear the rebound but it didn’t knock Barnet out of their stride.

Stanley were still struggling to test Bees keeper Lee Harrison with Puncheon having another free kick well saved by Arthur and Adomah flicking the ball over Richardson’s head but, with only Arthur to beat, he fired high and wide.

Stanley must have conceded from corners countless times this season and, eight minutes from time, they did it again. Puncheon lofted a flag kick in, Akurang’s overhead kick found the far post and Michael Leary jumped higher than Edwards to head home his first goal of the season.

It was effectively game over although Andy Todd and youngster Andrew Smith could both have lifted some gloom as both were one-on-one with Harrison in the latter stages of the match but the keeper smothered the attacks.

"We weren’t good enough," slammed Coleman. "You can hide behind the weather and the pitch but, at the end of the day, we didn’t pass the ball well enough, we didn’t compete well enough and the players didn’t play to the instructions they were given.

"It means our influential players, like Ian Craney and Shaun Whalley, are not getting enough of the ball to hurt teams in the right areas. It is really disappointing."