Callum McFadzean’s red card in the 51st minute meant that Wrexham had to battle it out for the majority of the second half with ten men, to secure their away point at the Hive Stadium.
After the dramatic win against Notts County, Wrexham would have to refocus their minds in the early kick-off. Seven points were required to secure the league title, and so a draw or win in this penultimate away game would have been of big help.
The first 45 minutes sailed along with neither side creating any substantial opportunities.
Wrexham failed to give Paul Mullin anything to work with, whilst Ollie Palmer also couldn’t get into the game.
James Jones started the game with an unmatched intensity though, as it seemed he was first to every loose ball and equal to any offering that the home side came up with.
In his first start since February, Callum McFadzean looked calm and assured at left wing-back, stomping out any hint of an attack down his side too.
There weren’t too many warning signs for Phil Parkinson to address at half-time, but he did need to assert some urgency into the attack.
This did start come to fruition in the first five minutes of the second period, until McFadzean was shown an instant red card.
A contentious moment, where McFadzean was running in for a possible rebound with the ball coming under the possession of Laurie Walker in goal. The momentum of Walker’s sprawl across the ground took his head into the pathway of McFadzean, where the defender couldn’t get his right leg out of the way in time. McFadzean was then about to instantly plant his boot back on the floor, but decided against it to withstand stamping on Walker’s head, but the referee saw the incident differently in the moment.
A real blow to any chance of Wrexham asserting an unrelenting dominancy to help break down Barnet in the game.
Parkinson’s men withstood any counter momentum after the incident, and were able to start formulating their own attacks, with Tom O’Connor moving to left-back.
Palmer was now in the game, pinning his defender away from any incoming ball, to then make the decisive movement to effectively hold the ball up. Ryan Barnett was used as a force down the right-wing, where he continues to be a constant threat.
The red card had only helped to increase the decibels from the 1,831 travelling Wrexham fans, as they tried to suck the ball into the net.
The former Wrexham triallist, Courtney Senior, came on for the Bees though, and this is when the home side started to get a foothold in the game.
Thankfully, Eoghan O’Connell and Ben Tozer were unfaultable at the back and the hosts would find no breakthrough.
Ben Foster’s performance in goal was equally remarkable. There was no standout penalty save in this affair, but his strength to breakthrough packs of players and punch the ball sufficiently away from danger was outstanding.
The resolute defending from the ten men was impressive, and would have pleased Parkinson in the circumstances.
Notts County’s win in the later kick-off against Woking meant that Wrexham’s lead at the top was reduced to one point. However, Wrexham’s game in-hand comes this Tuesday against Yeovil Town at the Racecourse Ground, with the opportunity of moving to three points from the title at stake.