Barnet had victory snatched out of their hands by Morecambe's late equaliser in a 2-2 draw after two first-half strikes by the prolific John Akinde had put the Bees in a commanding position at the Hive last night.

Manager Martin Allen made four changes to the line-up that was comprehensively beaten 5-1 at Portsmouth at the weekend.

In came keeper Jamie Stephens, Bondz N’Gala, Sam Togwell and Alex Nicholls, who replaced Josh Vickers, the suspended Bira Dembele, Ryan Watson and Harry Taylor.

The visitors were unlucky not to take the lead in the first-half with the woodwork repeatedly coming to Barnet’s rescue.

Paul Mullin worked himself into a good position down the left before firing a shot that struck the far post after five minutes; but two minutes later Barnet took the lead.

The Barnet skipper Michael Nelson pumped a long ball forward into the path of Akinde and the striker finished with his customary aplomb.

The visitors levelled two minutes later when Tom Barkhuizen followed up his lob over the advancing Stephens that hit a post, and from close range he headed into an empty net.

Both sides were creating chances with ease with both sets of defences looking uneasy when subjected to pressure.

Many of Barnet’s best moments came when full-back Mauro Vilhete burst forward from his right-back berth to take the ball deep into Morecambe territory.

Winger Jamal Campbell-Ryce, in his first home start of the campaign, was also dangerous with his pace and trickery on the ball.

Morecambe would hit the woodwork twice more before the interval; Michael Rose rattling the crossbar from distance and an effort from Cole Stockton hitting an upright.

Just after the half an hour mark Barnet went ahead. A wayward header by Michael Rose was eagerly pounced on by Akinde who powered goalwards before deftly placing the ball into the net past Barry Roche in the Morecambe goal for his 6th goal of the season.

Moments before the interval Akinde could have completed his hat-trick but he marginally misjudged his lob over the keeper. A good opportunity spurned and one that the Bees would later rue.

Barnet dominated large swathes of play in the second-half and despite pushing forward continuously they were unable to extend their advantage. Their best effort being an Akinde header that was well-saved by Roche.

Morecambe’s Lee Molyneux was then introduced in the 68th minute from the substitute’s bench and his educated left-foot gave the visitors extra guile when attacking.

With the clock ticking down the points looked to be in the bag but in a rare, if well-worked, breakaway in the 81st minute involving Rose and James Jennings down the left, Morecambe’s Stockton steered the ball over the line from inside the six-yard box.

Barnet will regard the result as two points dropped as they were in clear sight of the finishing line. Morecambe, by contrast will be delighted with an away point being that there were under pressure for much of the game.

Barnet: Stephens, Johnson, N'Gala, Nelson, Vilhete, Weston, Togwell. Akpa-Akpro (Gambin 87), Nicholls (Batt 83), Campbell-Ryce, Akinde

Unused: Watson, Vickers, Sesay, Taylor, Shomotun.