FRUSTRATION, annoyance and self-recrimination were all much in evidence in north London on Saturday where neither Barnet nor Wrexham achieved what they had set out to do.

Playing up the notorious Underhill slope in the opening period, Denis Smith's Dragons gave themselves the proverbial mountain to climb when they found themselves trailing 2-0 after 40 minutes.

Then goals from Mark Jones - his first in six matches - and Matt Derbyshire, who took his tally to five in four, hauled them level with 40 minutes to play, but the visitors were unable to maintain the momentum and Barnet's spirited response left them slightly the more disappointed camp at the final whistle.

On a day when the weather claimed its fair share of postponements, both managers bemoaned a lost opportunity to make up ground on the sides around them.

In Wrexham's case, failing to better close the gap between themselves and the play-off zone and, as far as Barnet boss Paul Fairclough was concerned, squandering two valuable points in his battle to avoid being sucked into a relegation scrap.

"At the end of the day, we have not got what we set out to achieve today," said Fairclough afterwards. "We got ourselves into what should be a good position - 2-0 up at home so you shouldn't be looking at a draw at the end of it.

"It was a massive opportunity for us and we were halfway there a minute before the break.

"But we were causing our own problems because we didn't get our clearances in, we weren't disciplined enough and that's something I've got to tackle with the players.

"Even though I felt the energy levels were a bit low today, we still managed to get ourselves in front, but we then shot ourselves in the foot."

Fairclough's opposite number was equally scathing about Wrexham's performance, particularly during the first 45 minutes, saying: "I think we threw the points away in the first half - the performance was shocking really."

Smith went on: "And if we continue to perform like we did in the first half, we won't be talking about promotion, we'll be talking about relegation.

"We should be coming here and winning if were going to achieve what I want, so it was points thrown away again.

"With so many games being off it was an opportunity to close the gap and we've got a lot of away games coming up, so we need to start winning some of them."

Despite having the experienced Darren Ferguson and Dean Bennett available again after both missed the last four league outings, their lack of match fitness dictated an unchanged starting line-up for the visitors.

Instead, the pair had to wait just 45 minutes before being thrown into the fray and the changes had the desired effect, giving Wrexham an improved attacking presence down the right-flank and adding more stability in midfield.

But it was at the back that the first-half problems were most in evidence.

Goalkeeper Mike Ingham endured an uncomfortable afternoon that began as early as the ninth minute when he dropped a no more than routine cross under pressure from Jason Norville, whose close-range shot was scrambled away for a corner.

The flag-kick was only partially cleared as far as the edge of the penalty area and Tresor Kandol, whose well-struck effort cannoned off the Wrexham crossbar.

The keeper's woes continued when his weakly-struck clearance was gobbled up by Ben Strevens, who raced forward to deliver an inviting centre that Kandol headed over the bar.

The lively Barnet front-man then almost took advantage of momentary hesitation involving Dennis Lawrence and Ingham, although the keeper managed to block the way to goal.

Up to that point, midway through the opening period, the visitors had mustered just two efforts of their own; Sam Williams failing to test Matt Reed after Derbyshire flicked the ball forward and when Lawrence got on the end of a Danny Williams free-kick which the Barnet keeper held under his crossbar.

And just when it seemed the Dragons had the measure of the task in hand, they found themselves trailing to something of a freak goal in the 29th minute.

With Ingham dithering once more, Danny Williams saw his attempted clearance charged down by Norville, who immediately lashed a first-time shot into the roof of the net.

If that wasn't bad enough, Ingham's nightmare continued in the 37th minute when he kicked the ball straight to Kandol, who was on his own and, despite a brave rescue bid by the keeper, managed to force the ball beyond him and double the home side's advantage.

The goal seemed to shake Wrexham out of their lethargy, Lawrence and Andy Holt combining to set up a difficult chance for Derbyshire, whose volley flew just too high.

They got themselves back into contention a minute before the break when Simon Spender fed Jones, who drove his shot through a crowd of players to beat Reed.

A half-time rollicking from Smith and the changes he made had the desired effect with Sam Williams stinging Reed's hands in the 50th minute before Ferguson's first telling pass put Derbyshire clear to equalise.

The stage was set for the visitors to press home their advantage but Jones steered a close-range header wide and Reed's nerves were evident when he almost threw a Sam Williams cross into his own net, the ball dropping just the wrong side of a post.

Another chance went begging from the corner when Lawrence stooped at the far post but was denied by the keeper, who then came a long way out of his area to halt Jones.

The ball then rebounded to Ferguson, whose long-range effort was over-hit.

Wrexham might have sealed the victory with six minutes remaining when Derbyshire raced onto a through ball from Jones, but for once his accuracy was lacking and the shot flew wide.

It could have proved costly when Barnet broke orward in the final minute as Norville's flick finding Kandol.

But Ingham somehow smothered his effort and Jones was on hand to hack the ball away to safety.