City 2, Barnet 1

It was the moment that a young fan’s dreams became reality.

Sitting directly behind the goal in the Kop, Luke O’Brien had often fantasised how it would feel to score for City in that very net.

Eighteen months after first stepping on to his own field of dreams in first-team colours, he finally find out.

Gareth Evans fired in a cross from the right wing, defender Joe Devera was caught in two minds trying to deal with it and O’Brien was on hand to smack it into the far corner of the net.

Forget the fact that he had been on the pitch for just four minutes and it was only his second touch. It was a goal that he had been waiting a lifetime to score.

O’Brien said: “It was so special to see it go in. I’ve always wanted to score like that in front of the Kop. I used to have a seat behind the goal where the ‘T’ is in ‘City’.

“Now our fans are in the TL Dallas Stand, the lads in the changing room are always on about which end they prefer to score at, but it was always the Kop for me.

“It’s the biggest stand and the one where I grew up in, so it was great to score my first Valley Parade goal there.”

City completed the fairytale feel when Michael Flynn, freshly out of sickbay, slammed the winner deep into stoppage time. There was more than a hint of offside about his twice-taken finish but nobody in home colours was listening to Barnet’s complaints.

Flynn screamed and punched the air as if he’d won the cup final. Barnet, still needing three points to guarantee their own survival, had the haunted look of someone who’d been mugged of a winning lottery ticket.

For 75 per cent of the game, the third-bottom visitors had looked the better team. They certainly possessed the best player in Albert Adomah, City’s regular nemesis.

Nobody has suffered more at Adomah’s hands in recent meetings than O’Brien, so perhaps the substitute’s instant impact was a clear sign that the fortunes had shifted.

Adomah had the first say with his third goal in four matches against the Bantams after 28 minutes of non-descript action.

City were unchanged from the Morecambe win in terms of personnel but the jaded performance that began Saturday was light years away from the chase-everything, harrying effort that had unsettled the Shrimps.

They could not get the ball for starters as Barnet knocked it around with a swagger that belied their wretched recent form and the typically unpredictable playing surface.

James O’Brien had already hacked off the line before Barnet struck on a counter attack. Paul Furlong, who Taylor first coached at Enfield 24 years ago, flicked on keeper Jake Cole’s clearance and Adomah turned on the after-burner to slip beyond Adam Bolder.

Adomah has had a hit-and-miss season as his mind wanders waiting for a summer move higher up the league ladder. But there was no disputing the quality of his half-volley finish which flew past Jon McLaughlin.

Peter Taylor questioned his keeper’s positioning but Barnet, well orchestrated by another sprightly veteran in Micah Hyde, were well worth their lead. City’s traditional bogey side were at it again.

Stuart McCall was watching knowingly from the main stand. Taylor’s predecessor had been given a huge ovation before the game when the team from 1985 were announced on the pitch ahead of their fund-raising dinner that evening.

With City struggling to get out of first gear, McCall’s return looked like being the highlight of the game.

The current boss, meanwhile, was contemplating a familiar scenario. Good City had morphed into bad City yet again for no apparent reason. Thankfully the shock of Barnet’s goal kicked a few backsides.

“Before that we weren’t playing any football whatsoever,” admitted Taylor.

“Credit Barnet, because some of the football they played was difficult to cope with. But I thought we got slightly better after they scored. It was a very poor goal to give away but after that we improved a little bit.

“The players show me at times that they are nervous and then they show me they can play some good football.”

Gavin Grant had slipped back into his shell and failed to cash in on a clear sight of goal, firing straight at Cole. Barnet argued that the striker was well offside; it was not the only time the protests fell on deaf ears.

But Robbie Threlfall raised the pulse with an explosive 30-yard first-timer which flew narrowly over and at least indicated that the hosts were trying to do something about the deficit.

Leon Osborne was lively but needs that bit of composure in and around the box. Taylor suggested that the youngster can expect lots of shooting practice on the training ground after spurning two big chances to equalise.

The first, just two minutes after the restart, was the worst miss. Evans found plenty of space to collect a long pass from Steve Williams and set up Osborne for what appeared a simple finish but the striker screwed it wide.

Then the best move of the match, involving Grant and substitute Flynn, worked an opening for Osborne straight through the middle but again he got his angles wrong as the ball brushed the post.

Taylor had switched to 4-4-2 with Flynn up front alongside Evans and City had a stronger look about them. Barnet, for the first time, were getting pinned back.

Luke O’Brien was thrown into the fray with a quarter of an hour left and made his spectacular entry as the game belatedly exploded into life.

O’Brien’s cross was met by a looping header from Adam Bolder that bounced off the Barnet bar.

Within a minute, the visitors had broken devastatingly from a City corner and Albert Jarrett picked out Adomah. O’Brien slipped in his pursuit, giving him room to fire off a curler bound for the top corner, but McLaughlin was equal to it with a brilliant tip on to the woodwork.

Barnet were holding their heads in disbelief – and it got even worse for them three minutes into the added time.

O’Brien’s cross was nodded out by Gary Breen as far as Osborne lurking by the D. He scuffed the ball back into the danger zone where it landed at the feet of Flynn.

As Barnet froze for a flag that never came, his first shot was parried by Cole. But the rebound came straight back and this time the Welshman made absolutely no mistake.

City had secured their first win over Barnet in six attempts since returning to the basement and in doing so they got some payback for the late goals that the Bees always seem to come up with.

City had played much better in previous encounters with little to show for it. Penny for McCall’s thoughts, anyone? Attendance: 11,138