Words John Edwards | Pictures Jonathan Moore

Altrincham 0 Barnet 1

Altrincham flew the flag for non-League football but could not quite put the brakes on Barnet's title juggernaut on a rain-sodden surface at The J.Davidson Stadium.

Alty's eagerly-awaited clash with runaway leaders Barnet was the headline act of Non-League Day, watched by more than 3,000 inside the ground and many more thousands tuning in to DAZN's live stream coverage.

Torrential rain that never let up made the challenge of slowing Barnet's charge towards the Vanarama National League title all the more daunting, but the Robins gave it everything they had.

In the end, it came down to two headers against the underside of the bar. One by Regan Linney came down on the Barnet goalline and was scrambled to safety; the other by Rhys Browne landed fractionally over the Alty line and bounced up into the roof of the net.

It was reassuring to see Linney back in action, and a weaving run that took him past two wrong-footed defenders in the tightest of spaces on the right bye-line after 10 minutes said everything about what Alty have missed during his three-match suspension.

Barnet eventually dealt with the danger as a third defender stepped in and managed to dispossess him, but you could sense the concern in the visiting ranks about the threat he posed.

The table-toppers mustered the first on-target attempt on goal in the 15th minute, but Rob Lainton was equal to it, diving low to his right to smother an effort from Browne.

Browne threatened again in the 19th minute, but Jake Cooper stuck out a leg to deflect the forward's goalbound drive over the bar for a corner that created more danger for the Robins as Danny Collinge met it with a header that flew narrowly wide.

There was a let-off for Alty in the 33rd minute when a deep cross was knocked back to Lee Ndlovu who blazed over from close range as he fell backwards. The Barnet striker claimed his shirt had been pulled by Cooper, and he appeared to gave a case, though the protests were waved away by referee Sam Mulhall.

If fortune favoured Alty on that occasion, they were desperately unlucky not to take the lead four minutes later.

Alex Newby played a short corner routine with Lewis Banks and floated a cross towards the far post, where Linney met it with a powerful header that crashed against the underside of the bar and bounced down plumb on the line.

It could not have been closer, and champions-elect Barnet knew they'd had the narrowest of escapes.

By the cruellest of ironies, when a Barnet header struck the underside of the bar in the 44th minute, it came down on the wrong side of the line from an Alty perspective as the visitors edged in front.

A free-kick was drilled in from the right, and Browne's glancing connection cannoned against the bar and bounced into the net as a fiercely-contested first half ended with a slender advantage for the odds-on title favourites.

With the rain still teeming down in the second half and Alty continuing to push for an equaliser, Barnet knew they were in a game.

Clear-cut chances were proving hard to come by, though, and Alty were beginning to run out of time when Kacper Pasiek fired over from the edge of the area in the 77th minute.

So it proved, as the Robins' last hope, deep into added time, came to nothing, Kosylo's cutback from the right being scooped over the bar by Justin Amaluzor.

Harvey Nichols MOTM Lewis Baines

Altrincham Lainton; Banks, Baines (c), Cooper (Amaluzor, 52'), Marriott (Osborne, 70'), Linney, Newby, Kosylo, Wilson (Crawford, 70'), Golden (Pasiek, 46'), Olson. Subs not used: Weaver, Reddin, Ansen.

Barnet Evans; Collinge, Browne (Chapman, 67'), Ndlovu, Stead, Kanu (Cropper, 86'), Glover, Hartigan (c), Clifford (Brunt, 46'), Grimwood (Okimo, 90'+4), Kenlock. Subs not used: Coker, Telford, Bellagambi.

HT 0-1

Goals None | Browne 44'

Yellows Golden 43', Wilson 45'+2 | Clifford 17', Kenlock 90'+5, Chapman 90'+5

Reds None | None

Referee Sam Mulhall

Assistant Niall Felton & Harley McKittrick

Fourth official Darren Rogers

Attendance 3,071 (254 away)

Next Up

Back at The J.Davidson Stadium once again - Tuesday at 7:45pm for the visit of Solihull Moors in The Vanarama National League.

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