An Emmanuel Osadebe 90th-minute strike gave the Bees three points in the Vertu Trophy against Cambridge United in a 3-2 win at the Hive.
Lee Ndlovu opened the scoring early on, with the U’s bouncing back with two set-piece goals, before Britt Assombalonga scored on his debut to level the tie and set up our number six for the winner.
Dean Brennan made ten changes to the side that started against Notts County on Saturday.
A back-line of Kane Smith, Ollie Kensdale, Oli Hawkins and Ryan Galvin sat in front of Cieran Slicker in goal.
The midfield was made up of Dennis Adeniran, captain Mark Shelton, Emmanuel Osadebe and Ben Winterburn, with Lee Ndlovu and new signing Britt Assombalonga leading the line.
Academy youngsters Aaron Liwala-Lukizalamo and Santiago Correa Colorado made their first appearance in a Bees’ First Team squad, with Joe Wright, Romoney Crichlow, Bright Siaw and Patrick Matejko making up the rest of the bench.
The Bees took the lead inside two minutes through Ndlovu. A defensive header from Cambridge’s Liam Bennett fell to the feet of our number nine who calmly slotted the ball past Ben Hughes to give us the advantage early on.
Ndlovu was unlucky not to have a second ten minutes later. Smith looped the ball into the area and found the forward at the back-post, but he couldn’t get the right connection to send the ball into the back of the net.
The visitors started to gradually take control of the game and found an equaliser on 20 minutes, with Hawkins unfortunately getting the final touch from a James Brophy set-piece that was nodded on by Mamadou Jobe.
The U’s took the lead after half an hour, with Ben Knight’s free-kick taking a deflection on its way through to goal.
Elias Kachunga hit the post shortly after, with the visitors looking to increase their lead before the break.
Winterburn struck with a few minutes to go in the first-half, but our number 16 drilled his effort from the edge of the area wide of the post.
An early change had to be made, with Siaw replacing the injured Adeniran.
There were penalty shouts from the hosts before the whistle blew for half-time. Osadebe played Ndlovu through, with the forward taking a touch before seeming to be taken out by Hughes, but referee Sam Mulhall waved away shouts.
Half-time: Barnet FC 1-2 Cambridge United
A switch at the break saw Crichlow replace Ndlovu before the whistle blew for the tie to restart.
Cambridge remained a threat from set-pieces, with Knight sending another effort off target, before curling a further chance wide of the left post.
Osadebe then threaded the ball through to Assombalonga, who struck the ball into the hand of Hughes, but the linesman’s flag was up for offside.
It was our new number 27 who found the back of the net for our equaliser. Crichlow played the ball beautifully through to the feet of our newest recruit, who was positioned well in the box, and slotted the ball home to level the score on his debut for Barnet.
Kachunga had another chance for the visitors with just over ten minutes of normal time to go, but his header from close-range was straight into the hands of Slicker.
Galvin found Hawkins in the box as the Bees increased the tempo in the late stages with a brilliant delivery, but the latter directed his header towards a Cambridge defender.
Slicker then made a point blank save to deny the visitors a late third, but the offside flag was up.
It was a combination of Osadebe and Assombalonga for our winner on the stroke of full-time. A move started by Bright Siaw, who did extremely well to win the ball back in the middle, allowed the experienced forward to drive forward with the ball, before a back-heel to feed our number six to fire it into the roof of the net and seal victory for the Bees.
Full-time: Barnet FC 3-2 Cambridge United
Line-up: Slicker, Galvin, Osadebe (Siaw, 42’), Ndlovu (Crichlow, 45’), Hawkins, Winterburn, Shelton, Kensdale, Smith, Assombalonga, Adeniran
Goals: Ndlovu (2’), Assombalonga (72’), Osadebe (90’)
Attendance: 692, with 167 visitors