Down at the Hive
Hatches battened
BARNET and Cambridge United, who had conceded 15 goals in eight games, suddenly locked down defences in North London, conspiring to produce an entertaining goalless draw at The Hive.
United shaded the early exchanges and had a penalty appeal turned down after four minutes when Bira Dembele headed onto his arm.
Eight minutes later, Barnet got into the game through Curtis Weston, who cannoned the bar after Michael Gash’s header was cleared from the line.
Weston was key to the home side, testing Chris Dunn with a drive that produced a fulllength save from the stopper.
In their second game without Barry Corr, Jordan Slew led the line for the U’s. Playing with his back to goal, he allowed his teammates to join attacks, but he was also able to test Jamie Stephens with a pair of stinging shots as United failed to score with for the second consecutive game.
However Martin Allen reserved praise for his defenders: “All of our players have to defend, all 11 of them. They’re all prepared to do it, cohesively and together for our first clean sheet.”
Barnet hit the woodwork for the second time after Dembele’s header stayed out of the net. Cambridge attempted to be more expansive in their passing, but the home side enjoyed the better half.
The second-half saw little in the way of chances as both sides attempted to play the ball on the ground in the opponent’s half. Frustration seeped into the game as each looked one pass away from opening the scoring.
Richard Money was pragmatic: “It’s important to come off the pitch with something, as we have done today, so I won’t say to anyone it’s the result we wanted, but we didn’t get beaten.
“We showed good resilience in the second half when they ramped up the pressure. They’ll be pleased with their efforts and we’re pleased we came away with a clean sheet and a point.”
Luke Gambin had the best chance of the second-half after John Akinde superbly rolled his marker and headed on, but the substitute slammed the effort into the away end. Gash had a header cleared from the line and drove wide from 20 yards.
Both managers made changes but neither could unlock the magic formula with the game fading to grey, a draw the most deserved result
Martin Allen felt his team deserved more: “We’ve dominated most of the game, had shots cleared off the line, hit the bar, but although we can always improve, we’ve got a clean sheet against a good team, and I’m really pleased today.”