Dario Gradi was disappointed with his side's first half showing at home to Barnet but praised his team after they fought back from 2-1 down to grab a point. A clever free-kick from youngster Ashley Westwood saved the day, as his short pass into Joel Grant unlocked the Barnet defence for Clayton Donaldson to score his second goal of the afternoon.

After a game of two halves at Gresty Road, Dario told crewealex.net: "It was a great start to the game and Clayton took his first goal really well. All credit to him; it was a real goal scorer's goal.

"We didn't play too well in the first half we got caught in possession a lot. It was a poor period for us to be honest. Toots (Matt Tootle) wasn't that reliable and the centre halves fell over for their first goal.

"We played better in the second half, it's not easy to play on that pitch, but I'm not blaming that, we both had to play on it. The players stuck at it. Westy hit the post and it looked a lot better.

"It was a case of us changing the personnel or change the system and in the end we changed the personnel. We have continued that habit of getting a late goal, and I'm glad they didn't score a third. It would have been cruel for us to have lost in the last few minutes.

"The second goal I can't take the credit for. We practice that in training but haven't done so for a while. I told Westy to decide what he wanted to do and it paid off. I think it took everyone by surprise including me.

He added: "Clayton was excellent too, his pace for his first goal was fantastic it was a clever goal, and he would have been a good bet to score."