Match Report

After a fine opening day win at Hartlepool, Sutton found it harder going on their return to the Knights Community Stadium but battled back after a difficult first half to take a deserved point. A fairly featureless first half with little between the sides tipped Barnet’s way in the last ten minutes, firstly as Simeon Akinola converted a penalty to give them the lead, and then as U’s were forced in to a change through an injury to Kenny Davis, but after an opening ten minutes in the second half where better finishing would have seen Barnet take a much firmer grip on the game, Harry Beautyman scored his third goal in two games to bring U’s level, after which things could have gone either way before the sides were forced to settle for a point each.

There was little to commend a first half in which neither goalkeeper was seriously tested, with Sutton creating the closest to a chance when Aaron Jarvis laid will Randall’s cross in to the path of David Ajiboye, given the nod over Tom Bolarinwa in an otherwise unchanged side, but he was unable to keep his shot down as he was challenged. Both sides looked comfortable on the ball, but rarely close enough to the opposition penalty area to create a threat, with Barnet winger Ephron Mason-Clark the liveliest forward on view, but eight minutes before the interval Jamie Butler had to come off his line to dive at Akinola’s feet, and although referee James Durkin waved away Barnet’s penalty appeals for that, he was less forgiving of Dale Bennett’s challenge on David Tutonda as the ball ran loose just inside the penalty area, and Akinola, who had left the pitch in tears at The Hive after being injured in last season’s meeting between the sides, scored from the spot for the second game running.

U’s then had to make a change with Davis suffering a recurrence of an ankle injury and being replaced by Craig Dundas, who thus moved past Trevor Bladon in to 7^th place in the all-time Sutton appearances list, and in the early stages of the second half they might have been put out of the game. After a lively run from Mason-Clark had seen the ball played across the penalty area Dan Sparkes shot wide via the outside of the post when he should have done better, and the same player shot weakly at Butler after the ball had fallen to him just outside the penalty area and with the keeper off his line. There was also an escape when Bennett’s clearance landed at the feet of Jack Taylor, but he was also unable to take advantage and Barnet were punished for their poor finishing when, seconds after replacing Ajiboye, Bolarinwa’s first touch was to guide a long ball from Jamie Collins in to the path of Beautyman, again arriving late in to the penalty area and rewarded as he lifted his shot beyond Scott Loach.

With their tails up Sutton looked the likelier winners for a time, and with excellent deliveries from both Randall and Rob Milsom, their corners were always a threat. Beautyman had a header blocked and Ben Goodliffe was twice off target having climbed highest in the penalty area, and Beautyman was also unlucky when he dispossessed a defender on the edge of the penalty area and saw a fierce shot beaten away by Loach.

There was still a threat from Barnet on the break, though, and as the second half progressed, as exciting as the first 45 minutes had been dull, Akinola stabbed a shot just wide from a low left wing cross, and Beautyman had to throw himself in the way of a Jack Taylor shot. It was the visitors who ended the game on the attack, their first corner in a half that had seen Sutton force six coming deep in to stoppage time, but U’s dealt with it comfortably and the sides had to share the points.

Barnet: S Loach, C Alexander, H Taylor, C Reynolds, J Dunne, D Tutonda, J Taylor, E Mason-Clark, S Akinola. M Elito, D Sparkes (sub S Coulthirst 72). Subs n/u R Matrevics, J Barham, R Syla, A Vasiliou.