So much for the argument that putting former professional footballers on the fast-track up the refereeing ladder improves the standard of officials in the Football League.

Colchester were leading this game 2-0 with more than an hour of the game gone when one-time Chesterfield defender Steve Baines - the only former pro player currently officiating in the Nationwide League - awarded Bournemouth a highly-debatable penalty.

His decision handed the in-form south coast club a route back into the game - and they were only too pleased to take it.

Cherries man-of-the-moment Jermaine Defoe - who up to that point had been well shackled by the superb U's defence - went down in a heap under the slightest of challenges from Joe Dunne and Baines, under pressure from the vociferous home fans, lost no time in pointing to the penalty spot.

Dunne had only minutes earlier pointed out to Baines that the quicksilver West Ham loanee, who hit the deck with monotonous regularity after almost every tackle, was playing for a penalty.

Sadly for Dunne his words were ignored and Richard Hughes duly sent keeper Andy Woodman the wrong way from the resulting spot-kick with the U's players still disputing the validity of the referee's decision.

Clearly stung by their ill fortune, the U's, to their credit, reacted admirably to the sudden setback.

But after an almost nonstop Bournemouth siege, the proud men from Essex eventually caved in to a Carl Fletcher equaliser five minutes from time.

Even then Baines, whose performance was at best less than average, found a further five minutes of added time to play.

On this display, he put up a good case why former footballers shouldn't be tempted into taking up the whistle.

This should have been U's recent signing Scott McGleish's day. The former Barnet striker, back for a second spell with Colchester, stunned the home crowd by shooting the visitors in front 22 minutes into this pulsating game.

Big Barry Conlon rose well to nod a Ross Johnson long throw goalwards and keeper Gareth Stewart spilled the ball by the far post where McGleish pounced to ram it home his first goal since his return.

Things got even better for the U's six minutes later when lively old war horse Mick Stockwell put them 2-0 ahead for half-time.

There appeared little danger when Stockwell, out by the left touchline, hammered over a lofted inswinging cross-cum-shot, but it completely caught out Stewart and crossed the goal-line via the far post and the keeper's back.

Johnson was on hand to make sure the ball did finish in the back of the net.

The U's at this point looked on target to record their first League win at Dean Court for 25 years.

But the Cherries newly-crowned manager of the month Sean O'Driscoll, whose team boasted eight wins and a draw from their previous ten Division Two outings, had other ideas - with a little help from referee Baines of course.

Impressive U's keeper Woodman performed miracles to keep a Claus Jorgenson shot out with his legs before recovering to fling himself to his left to block the rebound.

Woodman was in action again within minutes of the second half start, confidently pulling out a Jorgensen header from under the bar.

Admirably supported by the defensive qualities of flu-suffering Scott Fitzgerald, Dunne, skipper Simon Clark, Ross and Gavin Johnson, plus Aaron Skelton, Woodman stood firm until the Cherries' questionable 61st-minute penalty.

Boosted by their unexpected spot-kick success, Bournemouth totally dominated the last half-hour, but Woodman and his team-mates stood up well in their impression of the Alamo.

Defoe looked to have scored with a vicious left-foot drive after turning two U's defenders inside out on the edge of the area, but Woodman flung himself to one side to keep the ball out.

The athletic keeper followed up by plucking a powerful Steve Fletcher header out of the air just before Carl Fletcher's 85th minute equaliser.

And as the one-way traffic continued, Woodman excelled himself with the save of the match, flinging himself to his right to turn away another 20-yard volley from Defoe that looked a goal all the way.

It was the second time in three weeks the U's had allowed a lead to slip away in the dying stages of a match, but a point on the ground of the Second Division's form team of the moment was still a great achievement.

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