The Hive was buzzing with excitement as the Battle of the B’s lived up to and beat most expectations of the FA Cup match.
In the lone match at the end of the FA Cup fourth round, Barnet held Brentford to a 3-3 draw on the road, setting up a replay next week in Barnet. After Brentford took a 1-0 lead into halftime, the game exploded with five second half goals, as both Barnet and then Brentford took leads, only for Barnet to tie the match late.
Shaquile Coulthirst scored a pair of goals for Barnet while Dan Sparkes’ free kick tied the match for Barnet at 3-3 with 15 minutes to go. Ollie Watkins, Neal Maupay, and Sergi Canos each scored for Brentford.
[READ: FA Cup 5th Round Draw]
Amazingly, Barnet sits in 17th in the National League, England’s fifth division, while Brentford is much higher, in the Championship. However, Brentford has also been struggling in league play, sitting in 18th place. The game, perhaps, showed that the distance between the Championship and National Division isn’t as big as people think.
@MenInBlazers Made it to England with my crap patch so I could catch the not crap FA Cup Barnet-Brentford match. #supportingthebees #whichbees #patchatthepark pic.twitter.com/ANU3QVOwt5
— Dustin Weghorst (@dweghorst) January 28, 2019
Even without as many goals, there was plenty of end to end action in the first half. Moses Odubajo nearly out Brentford up early with a strike off the post, but Watkins made Barnet pay with a long-range strike in the 40th minute.
The National League wife leveled up the score just five minutes into the second half through Coulthirst. Three minutes later, it was Coulthirst again finishing on a goalmouth scramble and putting the Championship side down a goal.
However, Brentford began their comeback in the 60th minute after Watkins was tripped up in the box. Maupay calmly scored to tie the score at 2-2. Brentford then took the lead in the 72nd minute as Canos dribbled through the Barnet defense and finished with aplomb.
But the heroics were saved for Sparkes three minutes later, as he tied the game with a brilliant free kick.