Barnet started the game brightly and had the ball in the net after just a quarter of an hour when John Akinde poked home Curtis Weston’s deft ball into the box, but the big striker’s celebrations were soon cut short by an offside flag.
Mauro Vilhete – wearing the captain’s armband for the evening – was the next to go close, seeing a swerving shot from distance well held by Dion Curtis-Henry before again being thwarted by the Posh keeper when he got down low to block a diving glancing header at the near post from a corner.
The Bees were unrelenting in their pressure as the first half drew to a close, keeping Peterborough penned in with a high press and winning the ball high up the pitch.
The hosts twice came within inches of taking a deserved lead during the last five minutes before the break, with Kevin Lisbie first seeing a header bounce off the top of the crossbar before then seeing a stabbed effort find the side netting after a corner had caused mayhem in the box.
It proved to be the striker’s final contribution of a lovely performance as he was replaced at the break by Shaun Batt.
After a tame first half performance Peterborough hit the ground running in the second and took the lead five minutes after the interval, when Souleymane Coulibany raced clear of a Barnet defence wrong-footed by a goal-kick that was headed back in behind them to slot into the net and make it 1-0 to the visitors.
The Bees continued to pose plenty of questions of their own however, and had strong appeals for a penalty waved away on the hour mark when Mauro VIlhete was unceremoniously bundled over in the box.
With an hour gone Martin Allen began to make a string of substitutions as Michael Gash replaced John Akinde before Bondz N’Gala, Ben Tomlinson and Luke Gambin came on in place of Michael Nelson, Gavin Hoyte and Vilhete.
The changes affected Barnet’s rhythm, with the Bees conceding a second goal in between times as Harry Anderson lobbed a loose ball into the net after trialist goalkeeper Ashlee Jones had done well to block at his feet.
Barnet made two more changes as the game ticked on, with Curtis Weston and Elliott Johnson being replaced by Tom Champion and Sam Muggleton, and the young full-back helped theBees to pull a goal back by providing an excellent cross for Gash to thump home on the volley.
However, there was barely time to kick off from the restart as the referee blew his full-time whistle to bring to an end a highly encouraging outing for the Bees against League One opposition.
Next up is Barnet’s final home pre-season friendly of the summer against MK Dons (KO 15:00).
Barnet FC: Ashlee Jones; Gavin Hoyte Ben Tomlinson 65), Michael Nelson (Bondz N’Gala 65), Bira Dembele, Elliott Johnson (Sam Muggleton 75); Andy Yiadom, Sam Togwell, Curtis Weston (Tom Champion 72), Mauro Vilhete (c) (Luke Gambin 65); John Akinde (Michael Gash 64), Kevin Lisbie (Shaun Batt 46).
Peterborough United: Dion Curtis-Henry; Toby Adebayo-Rowling, Gabriel Zakuani (Ricardo Santos 46), Shaun Brisley, Andrew Fox; Harry Anderson, Jermaine Anderson, Joe Newell, Kieran Sadlier; Kyle Vassell (Lee Angol 60), Souleymane Coulibaly (Erhun Oztumer 60).
