U's and Bees share the spoils at The Hive
Cambridge United surrendered a two-goal lead in an entertaining 2-2 draw with Barnet at The Hive.
Kwesi Appiah celebrated extending his loan deal at the R Costings Abbey Stadium by scoring twice in three minutes in the first half, but Barnet hit back through Luisma Villa and Curtis Weston to take a deserved share of the spoils.
Richard Money named an unchanged starting 11 for the first time this season following Tuesday’s 4-0 win over Aldershot, while Barnet, without suspended top scorer Keanu Marsh-Brown, named player/manager Edgar Davids in an advanced midfield role.
In front of the BT Sport cameras, the Bees enjoyed the vast majority of possession in the first period, but chances were few and far between before the U’s hit the front with two goals in three minutes from Appiah. First Luke Berry did well to dispossess Davids and slip a pass left to Appiah, who produced a classy first time finish low past Graham Stack.
Then Tom Champion broke in from the right flank and did well to touch the ball through to Appiah, who did the rest by sweeping the ball under Slack’s body.
Crucially, though, Barnet were able to get back into the match quickly with a beautiful strike from Luisma, who picked up possession 25 yards from goal and curled a beautiful shot beyond the despairing grasp of Chris Maxwell.
The Bees stormed forward as the half drew to a close, and got their rewards when United were caught out down their right flank, and a low cross was helped back by Harry Crawford to Curtis Weston, who smashed a low shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
Barnet had the better of the second period too in terms of possession, but the U’s carved out a number of chances, with Adam Cunnington and Delano Sam-Yorke just failing to connect with crosses, and Richard Tait’s volley forcing Stack into a diving stage.
At the other end, Maxwell made one good save to foil Luisma, but remained largely untroubled into a dramatic stoppage time incident left the home side furious. Greg Taylor did well to clear a header from Stevens off the line, but the ball span high into the air, hit substitute George Sykes and rolled into the net. However, the teenager’s celebrations were short-lived, with the linesman’s flag indicating the ball had gone behind for a corner, denying the Bees a winner.
Next up for the U’s is Tuesday’s FA Cup first round clash with Bury, with Sheffield United waiting for the winners in the next round.