CHAIRMAN Tony Kleanthous was delighted with Barnet’s first official game in their new stadium despite the Bees slipping to defeat against Ipswich Town at the Hive.

The only goal of the game was a David McGoldrick header towards the end of the first half, shortly after Barnet midfielder Mark Byrne had his penalty saved by Ipswich goalkeeper Scott Loach.

Kleanthous failed to let the 1-0 scoreline dampen his mood though and hailed the day as a success for his club.

“From what I saw we did quite well,” he said.

“We missed a penalty otherwise we would have got a draw, but I’m quite relaxed about how it all went.

“It was a great day and I think that today showed that the prophecies of doom and apocalypse are just not the case.

“We had 70% of what our average crowd would be here today. They came, watched the game and went home safely.

“There was no trouble anywhere and there was no parking issues or traffic problems.

“Everyone I’ve spoken to has been very impressed with the facility and the stadium and everyone feels like this is a good new beginning for us so we are quite pleased with how the day went.”

Barnet manager Edgar Davids was pleased with Barnet’s performance against Championship opposition and felt they were unlucky not to get on the scoresheet.

“Overall there were some good spells,” said Davids.

“I thought the team effort today was really good. I’m disappointed a bit that we didn’t score where we had the occasion but I think we left a good impression.”

Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy was also impressed with the Bees and reserved some special praise for the 40-year-old Barnet player-manager.

“I thought the team (Barnet) were really good,” he said.

“I enjoyed watching some of the stuff actually and I thought they played some really good football.

“He (Davids) is still the best player on the pitch, and its remarkable his levels of fitness.”

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