Fleet 1-1 Barnet

The Fleet earned a deserved point as a late Ben Coker own goal after Dominic Samuel’s cross put the Barnet defence under pressure and cancelled out Nicke Kabamba’s early second-half opener.

The Fleet, with three changes from the side’s last league match at Kidderminster, started on the front foot when a corner fell eventually to Myles Kenlock in space and he pulled the trigger but the shot drifted over the bar. 

Mark Cousins was quick off his line to gather as Kabamba threatened before Barnet came close to breaking the deadlock on 12 minutes when Zak Brunt fired a shot from distance which saw his effort rattle the crossbar. Dominic Poleon immediately got away on the break but was tackled before Greg Cundle picked up pace down the left to weave the ball between the Barnet defenders for Samuel who then unleashed a shot just wide.

The next chance came on the half hour mark when the Barnet defence was called into action after Cundle took advantage of a kind bounce to send a low delivery into the goalmouth. Poleon got a foot on it but his effort came back off the post and Barnet eventually scrambled the ball away from danger. 

Cousins pushed away another Brunt effort just before half-time to send the hard-working Fleet in at the break after a more than encouraging opening 45.

Over the line! Fleet make sure of it for the equaliser

But it was the visitors who started on the front foot after the break. Cousins kept out Idris Kanu’s shot from the kick-off but within two minutes top scorer Kabamba found the back of the net, turning to shoot the Bees into the lead.

Barnet succeeded in keeping the game quiet as the minutes ticked away, though Ouss Cissé whipped a ball into Poleon’s path before goalkeeper Laurie Walker intercepted.

Kabamba thought he had earned his team their second as he headed the ball past Cousins from close range but the striker had moved into an offside position and the score remained 1-0.

With 10 minutes left, the equaliser came. From Josh Wright’s free-kick, Fleet kept pressing and a determined run by Samuel forced the ball into the middle where Ben Coker ran it into the back of his own net under pressure.

The Fleet pushed on in attempt to find the winner in the closing stages, Wright with a corner delivery to pinpoint the head of Joe Martin but his effort was just off target. Three minutes of added time confused both managers given the number of stoppages but despite a few Barnet set pieces, the Fleet were firm until the final whistle.

EUFC: Cousins, Martin, Kenlock, White, Chapman (McQueen 76), Cissé, Wright (Tanner 89), Edser (Bingham 70), Cundle, Samuel, Poleon. Subs: Sterling-James, Fanimo
BFC: Walker, Coker (Hooper 85), Collinge, Okimo, Gorman, Kabamba, Kanu, Pritchard, Hartigan, Oluwo, Brunt (Cropper 85). Subs not used: Stead, Stevens, Potter.
Attendance: 1,488

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