Barnet crew cut from the League

Torquay save themselves by consigning Underhill's under-achievers to the Conference after a colourful decade

Torquay survive, Barnet's next footballing stop is as uncertain as much of their 10-year tenure of League football.

Torquay survive, Barnet's next footballing stop is as uncertain as much of their 10-year tenure of League football. It would be good to report that Barnet departed with style and passion, but that would be stretching the point. At the final whistle, it was the Torquay fans who paraded in front of the main stand and the Barnet supporters who had to confront the despair of the dispossessed. Torquay, members of the League since 1927, had history on their side and their survival, on the day, was deserved. Not even the most diehard Barnet supporter ­ and there have been all too few of those ­ could argue with the final result.

By half-time, Barnet knew their fate. So, though there was a nobility in their second-half siege of Torquay's goal, recovering from a 3-0 deficit when they needed to win to stay in the League was far too tall an order for a team so low on confidence and, for long periods, so short on commitment.

Miracles cannot be produced to order. The roots of Barnet's decline lay not in the woeful first-half defending which gifted Torquay security yesterday but in the run of 15 straight away defeats since Christmas. But the return to their non-League roots, exactly a decade to the day after victory over Fisher Athletic assured them of League football, was no less cruel for all its inevitability.

"You can't begin to describe what it's like in the dressing-room down there," said Sam Stockley, the Barnet full-back. "Unless you've been in there, you can't imagine it. Everyone's devastated. This is our profession." The Barnet players will return to the club for a meeting tomorrow, but the future has once again been pitched into a vacuum. Even if Barnet win the Conference, the state of their Underhill pitch would preclude a return to League football. No wonder Tony Keanthous, who has put heart and soul into keeping the club afloat for the past six years, was still being consoled in the boardroom half an hour after Barnet's fate had been sealed.

"I feel for Barnet," said his opposite number, Mike Bateson. "It's not the loss of the revenue which is significant, it's the pride and the dignity. I'd hate to be the guy who took Torquay out of the League." Bateson's first job now will be to persuade the Torquay-born Colin Lee to take on the managerial job permanently.

Just four years ago, Torquay maintained their League status only because Stevenage's ground did not meet requirements. "This was definitely the most nerve-racking of our escapes," he added. "The second half was the stuff of nightmares. I could see them coming right back at us."

Queues snaked round the Underhill ground for the first time in years. Most must have felt like unwilling witnesses to a car crash. This was going to be a day for firm nerves, a day which rewarded control as well as passion. While Torquay tried to play football, Barnet simply froze in the headlights and the loss of their goalkeeper, Lee Harrison, after just 20 seconds with a knee injury suggested malevolent forces were at work.

Sadly, for the home fans, at least, his replacement Danny Naisbitt's only contribution to a woeful first half was to pick the ball out of his net three times.

Playing downhill and with the wind, Torquay simply outfought and outplayed Barnet. Jason Rees opened the scoring after 11 minutes with a low drive from long range past Naisbitt's left hand and, though the former Mansfield and Luton midfielder was carried off five minutes later, Torquay stretched their lead in the 25th minute from a short corner headed firmly home by Kevin Hill.

If Barnet thought they might get back into the match, the belief all but expired in a three-minute spell just before half-time. With the home side already 2-0 down, the Torquay centre-half Jimmy Aggrey inexplicably handled a long throw and referee Richard Beeby awarded the penalty. Darren Currie, hat-trick scorer when Blackpool lost 7-0 here in Tony Cottee's first game in charge, drove the ball low to the goalkeeper's right. Stuart Jones blocked the shot.

Two minutes later, Torquay thumped home the final nail. A long diagonal cross from Richard Kell evaded Lee Flynn and David Graham sneaked round the back of the Barnet defence to lift the ball into the roof of the net from close range.

The elements were Barnet's only allies now, but their arrival back on the pitch five minutes before Torquay signalled their intention to go down with flags flying. On the hour, a lifeline. Currie crossed from the right and Ryan Green looped the header into the top left corner for a spectacular own goal. When Jones, under pressure from two forwards, dropped a cross and Heald stabbed home the loose ball, there was a momentary glimpse of recovery. It was not to be.

Torquay's bench celebrated thereprieve with gusto. Jason Rees led the charge on to the pitch on crutches, a fitting farewell symbol for the League's latest casualties.

Barnet 2 Torquay United 3

Green og 60, Heald 76 Rees 10, Hill 25, Graham 43

Half-time: 0-3 Attendance: 5,523