Lacklustre Peterborough United rescue draw at non-league Barnet in friendly

In a blisteringly hot but disappointing afternoon for Posh, they put in a performance that lacked quality and sharpness at both ends of the pitch as had to come from behind to rescue a draw against their non-league opponents.

The damage was done in the first half, when Posh were playing one of their strongest available sides, but were punished for not taking their chances when they were hit with two goals in three minutes in the second of the game’s 30-minute quarters.

After an hour, both sides made wholesale changes and Barnet brought on a raft of second-string players and trialists, which helped Posh’s own young guns carve a route back into the match.

Hector Kyprianou started the comeback with a 67th minute header and Joe Taylor also scored his first Posh goal as he slammed in a 105th minute effort as the hosts tired. This led to a Posh onslaught in the final minutes but a winner could not be found.

Posh went into the game with a raft of absentees with Harvey Cartwright, Nathan Thompson, Ronnie Edwards, Emmanuel Fernandez, Dan Butler, Oliver Norburn, Joel Randall, Kwame Poku and Jack Marriott missing out due to knocks or illness. The game was split into four 30 minute quarters to allow two sets of players to get an hours worth of action.

Regardless of the niggles, Frankie Kent should have put Posh ahead in the opening minute of the game from a Joe Ward free-kick but he could only put his backpost header into the side-netting and hurt his arm in the process.

They then nearly trailed after Josh Knight’s poor backpass let Nicke Kabamba round Lucas Bergstrom but the striker dwelled for too long and allowed Posh to recover. Barnet continued to have their moments on the break but Posh were unlucky though not to go into the first break ahead.

First, Laurie Walker produced a terrific save to tip wide Clarke-Harris’s header from a great Ward cross. Jones then almost scored just before the break, when he jinked his way into the box and chipped the keeper, only to see his shot cleared off the line by two sliding Barnet defenders.

The second quarter began in the same fashion with Kent wasting a glorious free header opportunity to put Posh ahead, Jones burst past his defender to get in one-on-one, only to completely miss his kick when it came to the shot and Clarke-Harris thundered an effort at goal that hit the outside of the post.

Posh were then hit by two sucker punches. In the 44th minute, Ephron Mason-Clark’s effort from a tight-angle was allowed to sneak in after deflecting off Bergstrom’s near post. Just three minutes later, the outside of Bergstrom’s right post was hit again, this time it left the keeper helpless as the ball deflected to Ryan De Havilland for the easier of tap-ins.

Posh huffed and puffed but went in at the break trailing their non-league opponents 2-0.

The changes at half time seemed to suit Barnet the better and the game really opened up. The hosts could have been 3-0 up through a trialist but he puts his effort in while one-on-one wide under good pressure from Bergstrom. He would later have another one-on-one chance. This time, Bergstrom throw out and arm but could not stop the ball heading goalward, Charlie O’Connell had to haul it off the line.

Either side of those efforts though, Kyprianou got his first Posh goal after being the most alive in the box from a Joe Tomlinson corner. Barnet carried on strong with a team of largely trialsts and forced Posh into a few more frantic clearances.

The summer signing could have in fact finished the quarter with a hat-trick after he first drove past two men and shot well, only for the trialist keeper to push his effort over the bar and from the resulting corner, he crashed a free header from five yards out back off the crossbar.

As the final quarter starter, Posh piled on as Barnet tired and found an equaliser from Andrew Oluwabori’s pull back from the right to Taylor in the centre of the box. Ben Thompson came the closest to a winner with a diving effort but the match finished 2-2 as Barnet clung on.

Posh first 60 minutes: Bergstrom, Burrows, Kent, Knight, Ward, Fuchs, Jack Taylor, Jones, Ajiboye, Szmodics, Clarke-Harris.

Posh second 60 minutes: Bergstrom (Lakin 90mins), Tomlinson, Fox, O’Connell, Mensah, Kyprianou, Ben Thompson, Broom (Oluwabori 90mins), Kanu, Joe Taylor, Corbett.