Barrow V Oxford City

[bobbie moore]

Bit of a blip today,not at our best but still manage a point.
Will have days like this,a pity it happened when we had such a good crowd,hopefully they continue to attend

[spirit of 1990]

Strange old game, never thought this one was going to be easy so well happy with a point.

On the day we should have won the game but their keeper (was it the same one as three weeks ago?) was pretty outstanding & pulled off a great save mintues from the end off Shez, who I had down as my MOM.

Not too sure whether it was a foul on McMillan - no one apart from the crowd seemed to appeal & both the ref & liner had good views.

Overall, just happy to keep the run going.

Nice to speak to Si Nichols again & to be introduced to Sanddevil_temp who I'd never met before, also good to see Philmac back at the ground, tach as well.

Good to see the gate over the four figure total.

[Jonty]

Frustrating not to get the win but our overall play was good. I would just like us to try and be a bit more creative from corners- even if it's just keeping possession or playing it short and looking for someone coming in from the edge of the box. We have got the players to work a chance from these areas.

Still, we remain on top of our game and we are playing some nice football.

[Barrow Bluebirds]

If we can get atleast 4 points from our next 2 games (Colwyn Bay and Stockport, both away) I'll be more than happy

[Holkerbird]

Burns has a talent for clearing goal bound balls off the line. Brilliant clearance on Tuesday night as everyone thought it was in the net and then again today. I hope he is with us next season although he is being watched by scouts from other clubs.

[Big E]

Strange old game, never thought this one was going to be easy so well happy with a point.

On the day we should have won the game but their keeper (was it the same one as three weeks ago?) was pretty outstanding & pulled off a great save mintues from the end off Shez, who I had down as my MOM.

Not too sure whether it was a foul on McMillan - no one apart from the crowd seemed to appeal & both the ref & liner had good views.

Overall, just happy to keep the run going.

Nice to speak to Si Nichols again & to be introduced to Sanddevil_temp who I'd never met before, also good to see Philmac back at the ground, tach as well.

Good to see the gate over the four figure total.

Look out for Dave Chubbs pics, he's got the fwd all over TMc for their goal.

[spirit of 1990]

I admit two things -

1/ I never had a clear view of the incident.

2/ The picture does look like it might be a foul.

But........a still doesn't tell the whole story & I always go by players reaction & not too many (if any) complained, it was mainly the crowd that shouted "foul"
Don't get me wrong, if it meant us winning the game, I'd have wanted it disallowed, still happy with a point & the good run continuing - we're now going to have to look forward to a lot of team's upping their game against the form team of the league.

[Big E]

I think folk just expect any contact on the keeper to be given as a foul, although I did think it was strange at the time there wasn't more protestation from the players as it looked clear cut to me - I doubted what I'd sen until I saw Dave's pic.

You're bang on about visiting teams, we're going to have to be a little more patient and show a little more craft against some of these sides now, but a much better problem than the one we had 2 months ago!!

[barrowaberdeen]

All the way a foul, he wrestled him out of the way. I was stood about 5 metres from it.

I was surprised McMillan didn't go absolutely nuts. We were stood next to each other saying 'how did he give that' ref must have been looking a Nat Lofthouse vids or summat.

[Ste Story]

Strange game today. I think everyone, players and fans alike were a bit over confident in the result in the end. All through the game even when they equalised it was as if people were just waiting for us to score again and win, thinking it'll come soon. Nobody actually thought "let's try and [SwearFilter] win this" and really grab the game by the scruff of the neck, so although we looked decent and created chances, nobody really bust a gut to get that goal, and nor did we get going off the pitch as if we were waiting for the goal to set us off.

As it was I thought we were quite disappointing in parts today. We looked much the better team, granted, but that's only because Oxford were absolutely rubbish, and were very much there for the taking. How many times we must have crossed balls into the box knowing Rushy and Marsh aren't the biggest, only to see there defenders lap everything up. When we started trying to pass the ball around the edge to find an opening or get to the byline we looked much more of a threat, just seemed quite careless in our final play today. Likewise not sure why but we didn't really play with the same intensity or tempo as usual, particularly first half where I was really hoping we'd press them from the off.

Disappointing to concede from what was apparently a blatant foul according to those down there, as in the whole 90minutes I can't think of a single time Oxford came close or looked like scoring. Same goes for the penalty, bit weak and careless; if that goes in then that keeper's already low confidence is gone, as it is it gave him the boost he needed to go on and put in a MOTM display. Just [SwearFilter] [SwearFilter] the penalty as hard as you can. Get Duran Reynolds taking them and putting the keeper in the net with the ball if we must.

Still unbeaten though and the fact we're all gutted at getting only a point and being 8 pts off the playoffs instead of 6 shows how far we've come so quickly. Excellent crowd mind, and I hope many of them return.

[Kendal_bluebird]

Absolute agree there ste especially on the penalties would love to see Duran step up on the penalties! Was surprised with him been given MOM fort Williams and Davies where brilliant. Williams hasn't lost a thing a all of 2014 and digger just seems to have so much energy.... Two big away games coming up 6 points would be amazing, but it's a massive test. Think marsh is a great player, would have liked to have seen parky in at the end aswell just to put the shits up them with his pace.

[Si_Nichols]

The positives - great crowd, unbeaten run still intact, we look dangerous up front when we supply quality, we look pretty solid at the back particularly the much maligned Williams, Reynolds and Burns, we have decent options to come off the bench and a manager that is not afraid to try things, the pitch is in an incredible condition considering the weather and how it was at the start of the season (yes there are a few lumps and bumps but an incredible job done).

The negatives - it was definitely 2 pts dropped as Oxford were poor (their keeper aside despite his nightmare in away game), could have done with a win in front of that crowd, the midfield was detached and slightly outplayed throughout, Rae-Harvey and Cowps had stinkers + McMillan had a shaky game after the goal, we were beaten to too many second balls and pumped the ball high into their central defence far too often rather than try and get in behind them (when we did on odd occasions they were all over the place)

As Ste said its a measure of how far we have come that we are disappointed to come away with a point but we had more than enough chances to win despite being a bit lacklustre throughout. I couldn't see their goal well enough to comment so it will be interesting to see the video.

A good (if very long) day out but nice to get up to HS and meet up with plenty of old friends and a few new ones. Great to be introduced to Tommy especially when he said he imagined me to be some big bald old fat bloke and that I wasn't like that at all. Either his eye sight isn't too good or he was just being kind

[pjdaly]

I thought we were a bit predictable yesterday, even though on another day we might still have had three or four, bearing in mind some good chances and good saves from their keeper. On the subject of that "predictability" and how to counter it, I would like to see more of Cribley; I could understand how some of the heavier pitches we have had recently would not suit his style, but on slightly drier surfaces I feel sure he would have the inventiveness to carve open the type of oppostion we had yesterday. Fifteen minutes is not enough. I'm intrigued by our Ted, he's been getting left on the bench a lot recently (understandable on the battlers' type of pitches we have had in recent times) but from what I've seen he's got the tricks in his locker to change the pattern of play even though he's also one of those players who might put us in danger by trying something too flash when we are deep in our own half.

It's a good dilemma to have though; how can you leave out Davies or Sheridan with the way they have been playing, and Lacey too when he is available? We suddenly seem to have a surfeit of quality midfield players!

I agree with Ste that I'd like to see Reynolds have a go at penalties. Just as long as he is told to make sure he keeps his head down so as not to sky it, the ball is bound to end up in the back of the net, whether in "pure" style, or, as Ste suggested, by taking the keeper with it (or even just his head???).

[Ste Story]

Great to be introduced to Tommy especially when he said he imagined me to be some big bald old fat bloke and that I wasn't like that at all. Either his eye sight isn't too good or he was just being kind

I wouldn't describe you as old...

[Si_Nichols]

Great to be introduced to Tommy especially when he said he imagined me to be some big bald old fat bloke and that I wasn't like that at all. Either his eye sight isn't too good or he was just being kind

I wouldn't describe you as old...