STANLEY boss John Coleman felt his side could have taken all three points after watching his enterprising team claim a draw at Underhill on Saturday.

Referee Miller turned down Stanley's appeals for a penalty seconds before the final whistle after Bees captain Ian Hendon appeared to handle a Rory Prendergast cross.

"It was a stone wall penalty wasn't it," said an exasperated Coleman. "Nobody's got a chest a foot off the ground so unless he's a limbo dancer he's not going to get down that far.

"The referee's honest enough to admit he's made a mistake and they're referees only human. I thought the lads played really well. We set up with game plan and it worked to a certain extent."

However, for all Coleman's satisfaction, he did point out that things did not entirely go to plan for his charges even before a ball was kicked.

"Peter Cavanagh is going to get his hands slapped because we decided we wanted to kick uphill first half and he got confused and we kicked down hill but I think on the whole we more than worthy of a point and perhaps all three," said Coleman.

In a hard-fought match, Stanley set out to stifle their in-form opponents and opted to play five in midfield and use Prendergast's and Lutel James' pace down the flanks on the counter attack.

The tactical move upset the free-scoring Bees and it was Stanley who started the brighter as Andy Gouck's 20-yard effort skimmed past a post with only three minutes gone after Paul Mullin had forced Danny Maddix into a hurried clearance.

The lively James almost made the north London outfit pay minutes later when he failed by a few inches to connect with a Prendergast free-kick, but it was the home side who created arguably the game's best chance shortly afterwards.

A pinpoint cross from right winger Mark Williams found its way on to the head of an unmarked Ismail Yakubu but somehow the big midfielder directed his header wide of Jon Kennedy's far post from six yards.

Accrington used the scare to construct the move of the match with fluid passing ending with a powerful Mullin header which drifted wide of goal and Prendergast should have done better when he miscued after Naisbitt had fired a clearance straight into his path moments later.

Nine minutes before the break it was Stanley who were left heaving a sigh of relief as Kennedy produced an outstanding one-handed save to deny Conference top scorer Giuliano Grazioli after Ben Strevens had seen his initial effort blocked.

The home side used the interval to regroup and poured forward in an attempt to grab the opening goal. Left back Simon King headed just over the bar from a Hendon cross and Strevens' strong drive narrowly missed the target from 20 yards.

Cavanagh tried his luck from range with a rising shot from 25 yards following sterling work from Mullin and the same player teed up a wayward Gouck from around the same distance after charging down Chris Plummer's clearance.

A strong header from Mullin produced a fingertip save from Naisbitt on 69 minutes and as the game entered the latter stages it was the visitors who finished the stronger.

With both sides looking for a winning goal, the game became stretched and Stanley's veteran midfielder Paul Cook almost grabbed all three points when his left footed shot fizzed past the far post.

Cook then appeared to have breached a solid Bees' defence when his defence-splitting pass set James through one-on-one with Naisbitt but the pacey forward's first touch let him down, enabling the Barnet keeper to clear the danger.

"We limited them to just a couple of chances. They missed a really good chance with the header and our keeper made a great point-blank save but apart from that I don't think he's had a lot much more to do," said Coleman.

"We need to concentrate on converting our home form into three points and if we can do that then it becomes a good start."

Bees manager Martin Allen, said he was satisfied with a point and gave Stanley great credit.

He said: "They got promoted last year and any team that's had a promotion must have something about them. They've come out of a tough division and all the players knew they were going to get a hard game today.

"They set their stall out and they stuck to their job well. But the challenge to us is to break that down and have a bit of creative quality and I think it is a back-handed compliment to how well we've been playing that teams come here now and put their stall out to stop us from scoring."

Barnet 0-0 STANLEY

Att: 1,621

BARNET (4-4-2): Naisbitt; King, Hendon, Plummer, Maddix; Williams, Yakubu Taggart 77), Gamble, Hogg (Lopez 70); Grazioli, Hogg. Subs not used: Rooney, Millard, Sylla. Man of the match: Mullin.

ACCRINGTON (4-5-1): Kennedy; Cavanagh, Smith, Hollis, Williams; Cook, Flitcroft (Proctor 61), Gouck (Armstrong 73), James, Prendergast; Mullin. Subs not used: Speare, Halford, Welch.