Barrow v Southport match thread

[bobbie moore]

Midfield is once again our "Weakest Link" and Edmo's so called better signings have not improved it at all so we are back to conf north set up again,which wasn't good enough then.!!!!!!!
Lacey or ARH showed yesterday ,against poor opposition, not up to it but will be selected again no doubt.
We may have signed new/experienced players, but for some reason the management do not seem to be able to get the best out of them,we are not moving on at all imo.
Hard season ahead
Great goal by Cook,outstanding save by Dixon only highlights of a very disappointing performance.

[Jo am back]

I know that throwing money at a player or a couple players is necessarily the correct thing to do and when I say throw money, I mean going and paying a decent fee for one or two. Bearing in mind what Paul Casson's hopes are for this season and our financial position, I really cannot believe that we have not gone out and got that midfielder and top class centre half to really strengthen those areas which would make all the difference. Whether he would have been the answer or not, we really missed the boat with Andy Bond for what it would have cost to get him, even on a short term deal initially. We are so lacking in midfield it's unreal and I do not think Grand is the answer with Livesey at this level.

What are you talking about, Grand and Livesy were very good today. We don't have a divine right to roll teams over, in this league you have to perform even against a poor southport team, they will be relegated for sure, we have a good chance of staying up, support the [SwearFilter] club.

[blue nige]

Well we won but not inspiring ,iwould play harvey in front of lacey and mellor (still think we need a playmaker) play howarth and elliot newby wide cooky in the middle (sorry jase but newby nearly scored twice when he came on!),joel dixon came for all the crosses and it helped our defenders the save near the end was outstanding,i would like to see our fullbacks push up a bit but i think edmo is worried about conceding,the most worrying thing is why do we seem to play o.k. in the first half and in the second it`s the complete opposite?

[Gazza]

I know that throwing money at a player or a couple players is necessarily the correct thing to do and when I say throw money, I mean going and paying a decent fee for one or two. Bearing in mind what Paul Casson's hopes are for this season and our financial position, I really cannot believe that we have not gone out and got that midfielder and top class centre half to really strengthen those areas which would make all the difference. Whether he would have been the answer or not, we really missed the boat with Andy Bond for what it would have cost to get him, even on a short term deal initially. We are so lacking in midfield it's unreal and I do not think Grand is the answer with Livesey at this level.

What are you talking about, Grand and Livesy were very good today. We don't have a divine right to roll teams over, in this league you have to perform even against a poor southport team, they will be relegated for sure, we have a good chance of staying up, support the [SwearFilter] club.

I meant Grand with Livesey, not necessarily Livesey as an individual who is still good enough for this league. Yes they both did ok yesterday and does one ok performance against a team who offered absolutely nothing make everything alright? We haven't let in the goals we have for no reason. If it hadn't been for Dixon's brilliant save in injury time we would have conceded an almost identical goal from a late corner as we did at Cheltenham (no lesson learnt there then). Grand may generally be ok in the air but again yesterday he jumped under a couple of balls (not the first time this season). Don't forget he was dropped for the Forest Green game before Livesey's red card. It has already been evident against Dover, Grimsby and Forest Green and it will be the same against a number of other teams that there is more to defending in this league than just being able to head away long punts. We are not in Conference North now!

[Jonty]

Southport fan viewpoint from their forum. Interesting ending, practically conceding that even after only 6 games this feels like their turn for the drop, making a comparison with our own and Altrincham's previous tenure in the national league and that eventually it leaves you "Punch drunk"- ie it's brutal. The cycle of non-league football- Just like Tony Keen always used to say.

"You run a comparison between us and Barrow and they beat us 1-0 and were better than us all over the pitch.

Cook and Walker, 25 and 31 respectively, 40 and 75 goals at this level respectively big man and intelligent but strong clever running striker - just a much better front two. Phenix, after a great debut isn't playing with any footballing intelligence, giving away fouls, he hasn't been helped by playing as a lone striker he looks frustrated and short of confidence. Bishop has understandably slowed up at 32 some good moves but wasn't serviced, did the best he could with the half touch - but their front two were a cut above ours.

In midfield Ray-Harvey, ex Burnley and Fleetwood midfielder, played for Barrow in their relegation season after a loan spell got forward and Lacey anchored, ex Bradford, Morecambe and Altrincham man both young lads with experience probably both early to mid 20's had the physicality to dominate the central areas of the pitch against Jones and Wright. I had reservations about the formers legs in pre-season because it's a different style of football than league one and the different tempo requires younger legs at the level and Wright - had a lot of injuries perhaps needs to play centre midfield as the midfield partnerships aren't working.

In the wide areas Courtney Cameron? Did he touch it? and Andrai Jones? Sent off again for a rash tackle he can compete and has the legs but what's the point in having him, we've got rid of Brodie (rightly) for me and then this clown has nearly got himself sent off in every match he's played and suceeded twice. They had Andy Haworth a marauding centre midifelder in his late 20's ex Bradford and Rochdale and once a target of ours, he drove forward and the the game on their right - though thought their left winger was overrated.

At the back, Thompson has been underwheling, felt he wasn't tested in pre-season so reserved judgement but has been guilty of mistakes, Challoner, I like young lad who needs to be played and given patience we know he can do it. Blakeman injured early on. Keeper questions asked of his static approach? Foster - not as sharp as last season whole back four defends deeper as a result and though he made an excellent interception 5 minutes before the goal he was responsible for the goal allowing Cook to turn too easy. I said to some at the friendlies I had my concerns he wasn't the same as last season in pre-season. Their keeper didn't have much to do but he was confident and decisive when he did. Their defence wasn't pressured because Grand can be got at, at this level.

They opened a new bar for the away fans, they are trying it out to see what interest there is before - they invest further ok, it wasn't advertised well - but the sentiment is there - the temporary marquee in the ground, embracing directors, investment plans full time training and a top half budget to go with it, Barrow had a friendlier feel to it than in recent seasons and we were again too hospitable to our opposition.

So in the end we lost 1-0 like at Braintree, and similarly at Gateshead. Then the Macc game we drew 0-0 with a 10 man side who are in the bottom four.

It's worrying, I don't know the answers right now, I know we need to get behind the team on Monday irrespective of our reservations.

For too long for me, we've toiled at the bottom of the division like our neighbours Altrincham and Barrow did and eventually relegation arrived, everyone at those clubs, remarkable similiarities in that they both had a good season to punctuate years of struggle before relegation and re-emerging. Wer went to both clubs and they felt punch-drunk Barrow in 12/13 and Alty in 10/11. A couple of years in Conference North and they returned.

Quite profound to me, is that for years we recruited lads on their way up, the 04/05 squad who recently revisited were part time lads with their careers in an upward trajectory - the same can be said of our Championship squad of 09/10 and our 7th placed finish side of 11/12. This move to full time, three day a week, training, I've long argued against has seen us recruit lots of lads on their way down and I believe that full time players on their way down with no stability with us being one of the last stops on the line will never quite have the same fight, stability and character as part-time footballers, hungry and on their way up. Our budget dictates that we can't get that balance of good full time players.

It feels like it's now our turn - football comes in cycles"

[spirit of 1990]

Interesting comparisons & yes Jonty, very similar to what TK used to say.

Sounds very much like they've resigned themselves being in a relegation fight this season.

[K_BFC]

Just noticed that the post Southport boot room video is on YouTube, just Edmo on his own.

Says that everybody is almost back from injury, but not quite there. Wonder how Wilson is getting on?

[McMark]

Well if you haven't seen that save yet, view it along with all the other highlights! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv0vML5 ... youtu.be&a
Ashton well and truly put his body on the line to make sure that the Dixon one hander at full stretch, saw us over the line as winners.

[boyliegladbach]

Well if you haven't seen that save yet, view it along with all the other highlights! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv0vML5 ... youtu.be&a
Ashton well and truly put his body on the line to make sure that the Dixon one hander at full stretch, saw us over the line as winners.

Was a great save, he's a good keeper.love that one he catches at end as well.

[bobbie moore]

deleted

[spirit of 1990]

That looked very much like an attempted/feigned headbutt at 2:28 on Dixon, contact or not (not in this case) but he was lucky to stop on.....if the ref had seen it he would surely have been off.

Dixons save & Ashton's header clear handed us the three points, fantastic one handed save.

[redboy]

No Edmo out call from me today

EDMO FOR ENGLAN D

[Blue and white]

We weren't that bad , this is not an easy division - see Grimsby this season ! Defence wise we looked solid , going forward ok it wasn't pretty , but overall we deserved the 3pts , goals will come once Syms and Pilks are both fit , Cook will be getting 2 a game then! Anybody know if the BT highlights from the Southport game are online yet!? I've seen the YouTube one !

[Jonty]

BT sport used the club highlights and added a bit of summary commentary. It was not a bad half hour show.

[Bingo]

Midfield is once again our "Weakest Link" and Edmo's so called better signings have not improved it at all so we are back to conf north set up again,which wasn't good enough then.!!!!!!!
Lacey or ARH showed yesterday ,against poor opposition, not up to it but will be selected again no doubt.
We may have signed new/experienced players, but for some reason the management do not seem to be able to get the best out of them,we are not moving on at all imo.
Hard season ahead
Great goal by Cook,outstanding save by Dixon only highlights of a very disappointing performance.

What do you mean it wasn't good enough then - we were champions