Barnet 3-3 Brentford: Watch all the goals as National League side earned FA Cup replay in breathtaking six-goal thriller

One of the best FA Cup ties you’re likely to see ended with National League side Barnet holding Championship club Brentford to a breathless 3-3 draw.

Substitute Dan Sparkes scored a stunning free-kick to ensure a replay after the pendulum had swung the way of both teams.

Two goals from third-round hero Shaquile Coulthirst gave Barnet an unlikely lead after Brentford’s Ollie Watkins opened the scoring, but the visitors regained the advantage when Neal Maupay converted a controversial penalty and Sergi Canos rounded off a lovely team goal.

You would never guess 71 places separated the two teams and Sparkes sealed a well-deserved replay with a world-class free-kick, which cannoned in-off the crossbar, sending the Hive into hysteria.

The host’s goal lived a charmed life for the game’s dying moments as Brentford showed their class, but the tournament’s lowest-ranked team held firm to earn a memorable draw.

The two sides will meet again at Griffin Park for the chance to play Swansea in the fifth round.

Barnet saw off Championship side Sheffield United at the last stage, and on Monday faced another side from England’s second tier – also playing in red and white – as they aimed to reach the fifth round for the first time in their history.

Emboldened by a record crowd at a home they have called their own since 2013, Barnet began the game on the front foot.

But it was their opponents who began to take control, rattling the frame of the goal twice.

First Yoann Barbet thought he had scored, only to see his header crash off a post.

Then, midway through the opening period, Brentford right-back Moses Odubajo cut in from the touchline and unleashed an unstoppable strike from distance, but a post intervened again.

Barnet defender Dan Sweeney had played a starring role for the hosts to keep the score level and, at the other end, brought Luke Daniels into action for the first time. Leaping highest from a corner, his bullet header was turned away by the Brentford goalkeeper.

Sweeney’s chance kick-started a brief spell of domination for the hosts, only for Brentford to land what seemed a sucker-blow with just five minutes of the half remaining.

Watkins drifted inside on his right before unleashing a 25-yard curling effort that left goalkeeper Will Huffer diving in despair.

“There’s only one Bees in London,” sang fans of Brentford, who share the same nickname with Barnet, as the Championship side took a slender lead into the interval.

Yet, within five minutes of the second half, it was the home support suddenly in full voice.

Ephron Mason-Clark was the provider on the right-hand side, twisting and turning before finding Coulthirst, who toe-poked home.

Coulthirst, whose goal saw off the Blades in the previous round, slid on his knees, and it was not long before he was dramatically celebrating his second.

Following a desperate scramble in the Brentford box, the ball fell to the striker who again made no mistake to make it two goals in 192 seconds.

On the hour mark, this compelling tie took another twist when Brentford were awarded a controversial spot-kick.

Watkins fell in the area, but TV replays suggested there was no contact from David Tutonda.

With no VAR available, the penalty stood and Neal Maupay sent Huffer the wrong way.

The non-league side had every right to feel hard-done by, and their misery would be compounded when Canos then scored a fine breakaway goal.

But Sparkes struck to get Barnet level again as the substitute somehow managed to get his free-kick up and over the ball and into the back of the net.

The visitors went in search of a winner, with Daniels denying Maupay and Odubajo hitting a post for a second time on the night, but Barnet hung on.