Harrogate relegated as defeat to Barnet seals fate

Harrogate’s six-season stay in the Football League is over after teenage Barnet substitute Phillip Chinedu consigned the hosts to a 2-1 defeat with his first touch of the game.

Bryn Morris’ penalty had cancelled out Callum Stead’s fifth-minute opener for the Bees and with Newport trailing at Barrow, Simon Weaver’s Sulphurites sat third from bottom for much of the afternoon.

But with the Welsh club turning the tables and Crawley drawing against Salford, a point would have proved insufficient even before Chinedu struck.

Harrogate got off to a nightmare start when an underhit back-pass by Cathal Heffernan sent Kabongo Tshimanga clear. The Congolese striker rounded exposed keeper Mark Oxley before nudging the ball to Stead, who grabbed his eighth goal in five outings.

Town were level in the 29th minute after alert play by left-back Jacob Slater saw him tripped in the box by Romoney Crichlow-Noble, with Morris dispatching the spot-kick firmly to Cieran Slicker’s right.

Harrogate pressed for a second goal after the break with Shawn McCoulsky bursting from the halfway line and thundering a shot against the underside of the bar.

Tobias Brenan found himself clear through but fluffed his chipped effort with Slicker stranded out of his goal.

By this time, events at Newport had plunged Harrogate back into the bottom two and more despair followed when hesitant home defending was punished as Chinedu squeezed a low six-yard shot inside Oxley’s right-hand post.