Crawley Town maintained the unbeaten start in League Two as Joe McNerney’s goal secured a 1-1 draw with Barnet at the Checkatrade.com Stadium Former Reds striker John Akinde had given the Bees the lead after just three minutes and went on to squander a hatful of chances to put the visitors completely in control before half-time.

Crawley fought back after the break and were rewarded in the 67th minute when McNerney headed home from close range after James Collins’ shot had come back off the underside of the bar.

Reds boss Dermot Drummy will have been grateful to pick up an eighth point from four games considering Crawley could have been dead and buried inside the opening quarter of an hour as Akinde ran them ragged.

The big striker – who scored only once in two years with Crawley - took just three minutes to fire the Bees in front. He out-muscled Alex Davey to get on the end of a long ball from Sam Togwell before blazing his shot past a helpless Yusuf Mersin.

Mersin denied Akinde five minutes later when he pushed his well-struck shot around the near post before Akinde was off target with a header from six yards.

Reds slowly came back into the game but had to wait until the 29th minute for their first effort on goal – Josh Payne’s 20 yard strike comfortably pushed wide by Josh Vickers.

Akinde was unable to make the most of another two golden chances to make it 2-0 before half-time. First he lifted the ball over Mersin from a tight angle only to see it roll across the face of goal and agonisingly wide and then his volley at the far post was parried by the Crawley keeper.

Barnet continued to look the most likely to score in the second half and Reds boss Dermot Drummy had seen enough as he made a double change in the 57th minute.

The introduction of Josh Yorwerth and Adi Yussuf certainly made a difference and within ten minutes Reds were level.

Andre Blackman found James Collins in the area with a clever ball and when his shot crashed against the underside of the bar McNerney was on hand to nod home.

Both teams had opportunities to win the game in the final 15 minutes.

Substitute Mauro Vilhete saw a free header blocked from a corner and Mersin did well to keep out a header from Bira Dembele.

At the other end Jason Banton’s curling effort from 25 yards beat Vickers but dipped just over the bar.