The U’s and Barnet shared the spoils and the points in a 1-1 draw at The Hive.
The U’s made a bright start, with Kurtis Guthrie’s low effort forcing Josh Vickers into making a smart save in only the second minute.
However Vickers was helpless to prevent Tariq Fosu opening his Colchester United account with a powerful finish after a good U’s move inside 6 minutes.
Szmodics was unlucky to not double the lead soon after as his effort sailed just past the post.
12 minutes in Shaun Butt escaped Luke Prosser and looked to be clean through on goal but Brennan Dickenson made an excellently timed tackle to prevent the shot.
Both teams made early subs, with Jamal Campbell-Ryce coming on for Barnet replacing Alex Nicholls and Glenn Kamara replacing Sammie Szmodics for The U’s. Szmodics had earlier gone down with a dead leg and had tried to run it off.
Barnet finished the half strong and had a great chance to equalise when Shaun Batt headed wide from 6 yards.
The U’s came out for the second half with a 1-0 lead and Drey Wright almost doubled it with a spectacular effort from 25 on 53 minutes.
Sam Walker was called into action on the hour mark and saved a John Akinde header following an accurate Jamal Campbell-Ryce cross.
Barnet piled on the pressure in the final 20 minutes and skipper Luke Prosser cleared a Luke Gambin strike off the line after a Barnet corner.
The home team finally levelled with 81 minutes played when Curtis Weston converted from close range.
Brennan Dickenson had a chance to win it in injury time but couldn’t get a shot away before Josh Vickers did enough to clear.
It was a well-earned point in the end for the U's who find themselves in 6th place, level on points (14) with Portsmouth.
The U’s fans were in great voice and spirits all game and we hope to see as many of you as we can at the next game; at home to Accrington Stanley on the 24th.