Exeter City dropped to 11th in the League Two table on Saturday after surrendering a 2-0 lead at home to Barnet.
City went into the match looking to end a run of four games without a win at St James's Park and made a good start as goals from Danny Coles and Scot Bennett gave them a comfortable lead at the break.
Manager Paul Tisdale had made a brave move in dropping leading scorer Jamie Cureton to the bench in a bid to breakaway from the counter-attacking style of football that has served them so well on the road but failed to get results at home.
And it worked as City pressed high up the pitch, forced Barnet into errors and created numerous chances. Matt Oakley and Jimmy Keohane both went close to opening the scoring before Alan Gow's corner was headed home by Danny Coles in the 35th minute.
It was another corner on the stroke of half-time that put City 2-0 up. This time LiamSercombe crossed for Coles to head goalwards. His initial effort was blocked, but Bennett was in the right place to fire in the rebound.
In the second half City didn't have the same urgency or pressure to their game, but a Barnet comeback still looked unlikely as the game approached the last 20 minutes.
However, with Davids having gone off injured, substitute Jon Nurse latched onto a pass from John Oster and hit a shot across ArturKrysiak and in off the left hand post to give the visitors a lifeline.
Barnet then started to push men forward as City sat deeper and deeper. And it was Nurse who again proved to be the thorn in Exeter's side as he lifted a cross into the box that was flicked into the path of defender Andy Iro who turned and fired past Krysiak from close range.
Exeter City: Krysiak, Tully, Woodman, Bennett, Baldwin, Coles, Sercombe (Dawson, 53), Oakley, Gow (Davies, 80), O'Flynn (Cureton, 85), Keohane. Subs: Evans, Davies, Amankwaah, Reid, Moore-Taylor.
Barnet: Stack, Fuller, Byrne, Holmes, Yiadom (Weston, 45), Hyde, Johnson, Stephens, Oster, Iro, Davids (Nurse, 60). Subs: Cowler, Brown, Kamdjo, Fortune, Atieno.
Other League Two results were as follows: Winbledon 0 Oxford United 3, Aldershot p-p Torquay, Bradford 2 Rochdale 4, Burton Albion 2 Southend 0, Cheltenham p-p Bristol Rovers, Chesterfield 1 Morcambe 1, Dag & Red 2 Port Vale 3, Fleetwood 0 York City 0, Gillingham p-p Northampton, Plymouth 0 Wycombe 1, Rotherham 4 Accrington 1.
City went into the match looking to end a run of four games without a win at St James's Park and made a good start as goals from Danny Coles and Scot Bennett gave them a comfortable lead at the break.
Manager Paul Tisdale had made a brave move in dropping leading scorer Jamie Cureton to the bench in a bid to breakaway from the counter-attacking style of football that has served them so well on the road but failed to get results at home.
And it worked as City pressed high up the pitch, forced Barnet into errors and created numerous chances. Matt Oakley and Jimmy Keohane both went close to opening the scoring before Alan Gow's corner was headed home by Danny Coles in the 35th minute.
It was another corner on the stroke of half-time that put City 2-0 up. This time LiamSercombe crossed for Coles to head goalwards. His initial effort was blocked, but Bennett was in the right place to fire in the rebound.
In the second half City didn't have the same urgency or pressure to their game, but a Barnet comeback still looked unlikely as the game approached the last 20 minutes.
However, with Davids having gone off injured, substitute Jon Nurse latched onto a pass from John Oster and hit a shot across ArturKrysiak and in off the left hand post to give the visitors a lifeline.
Barnet then started to push men forward as City sat deeper and deeper. And it was Nurse who again proved to be the thorn in Exeter's side as he lifted a cross into the box that was flicked into the path of defender Andy Iro who turned and fired past Krysiak from close range.
Exeter City: Krysiak, Tully, Woodman, Bennett, Baldwin, Coles, Sercombe (Dawson, 53), Oakley, Gow (Davies, 80), O'Flynn (Cureton, 85), Keohane. Subs: Evans, Davies, Amankwaah, Reid, Moore-Taylor.
Barnet: Stack, Fuller, Byrne, Holmes, Yiadom (Weston, 45), Hyde, Johnson, Stephens, Oster, Iro, Davids (Nurse, 60). Subs: Cowler, Brown, Kamdjo, Fortune, Atieno.
Other League Two results were as follows: Winbledon 0 Oxford United 3, Aldershot p-p Torquay, Bradford 2 Rochdale 4, Burton Albion 2 Southend 0, Cheltenham p-p Bristol Rovers, Chesterfield 1 Morcambe 1, Dag & Red 2 Port Vale 3, Fleetwood 0 York City 0, Gillingham p-p Northampton, Plymouth 0 Wycombe 1, Rotherham 4 Accrington 1.
