Barrow v Harrogate Town match thread

[will3988]

First time Harrogate have kept a clean sheet in 27 games since the 30th September...welcome to Holker Street!

Literally no words about our attacking prowess, once again anyone with a set of eyes could tell after the first few games how utterly shambolic we are going forward, once again we are so bad in both boxes, once again we make a mistake which we concede from, once again we don't compete for 90 minutes the first half we were all over till the pace till the changed, once again we were second best to the majority of balls, once again the other team showed a willingness to win ugly, ultimately once again this squad just isn't good enough and anyone with a set of eyes could see this in August!

[Jonty]

They were head and shoulders above us for effort and commitment and that’s all it took to win that game.

That’s a big concern because it is the once thing Dino has been highlighting in his interviews.

[LCBAFC40]

First half shite
Second half better but so many missed chances esp Newby, that miss was [SwearFilter] poor !
Desperately need Williams, smith, Whitfield and Fletcher back ASAP

[greenarmour]

Thompson, Earing, Harper, Jackson, Malcolm , Walker please collect your P45 and FRO.
Recruitment team follow them out.

Disgraceful.

Dino, they've sold you a pup.
If you can get a tune out of this lot you'll deserve the freedom of Barrow.

[andyg]

Gutted but the last two games have followed a pattern we are Colchester's bogey team and we win and of course Harrogate our bogey team and they do us. Typical really. At this moment am gutted but fear not I'm off to Fleetwood on Saturday with my granddaughter who hasn't seen us lose (in 90 mins that is - as she went to Wigan) this season. So the signs might be hopeful.

My take on the game tonight watching it from afar is that as soon as we go behind we just cant seem to find a way back. Total lack of confidence. And Dino saw that first hand tonight. The inevitable runs of form for Harrogate & Newport are happening now. Somehow we need to find a run of games where we simply don't lose. If Newport can win at a place like Salford surely we can do the same down the line? If we don't find it then the Newport game at the end of the season will not matter to us and we all know what the consequences will be.

Also the great Barrow public decided not to turn up once again. This is not a new phenomena as it happened in the 60's and 70's. But really you have to ask yourself does the town deserve a league team? You cant have a go at Carlisle they tend to always turn up for their team. We are all hurting on here because we love the team - I just wish more did in the Barrow area.

[Bingo]

I don’t think we will go down but I’m no longer going to have my mood and emotions dictated to by the football. If we go down so be it, In the future when I go to games I will do just to enjoy it irrespective of the results

I’ll be dead in 20 years time if not before anyway and none of us will get to see what happens in the end so [SwearFilter] to it all

[Barrow Lad New]

On 24th January when Crawley beat us 1-0 at home, I said in my report “It was the latest in a long history of 1-0 defeats at Holker Street in foot of the table six-pointers!” In that sense, tonight’s result was entirely predictable, and it seems than when faced with “musrt not lose” games at home, we are like rabbits caught in the headlights. Too nervous to either go forward or defend confidently.

Tonight saw us gift the only goal of the match to Harrogate in the 7th minute, a poor back pass by Thompson leaving Stanway in no-man’s land. However, there were a number of instances after this where we nervously played around, passing back to the keeper, and inviting pressure from Harrogate attacks, especially by Slater and Evans down the left-hand side. It was Taylor who made it 1-0 nil early doors and there was little improvement until early substitutions by Dino in the 40th minute, Mahoney and Gordon coming on for Barkhuizen and Earing.

A better second half still resulted in few chances for us, and they grazed our bar with a long-range shot.

The night was dry but very cold, and the £10 ticket offer had clearly persuaded some to come out in the chilly conditions. We did have the first chance as Barkhuizen shot past the right post in the 4th minute.

Three minutes later we had the gifted goal enabling Taylor to slot past Stanway from a narrow angle on the left.

Another four minutes on and Stanway had to punch away another Taylor shot for a corner. In the 17th minute a break by Slater down the left side saw him cross dangerously across the Barrow goal.

We struggled to keep possession and balls forward were too often aimless. The fans hoped two 40th minute substitutions would see improvements and four minutes later, Gordon was put through on goal by Canavan with only the keeper Gray to beat. Gray blocked Gordon in the area to make the save and there were cries for a penalty.

Harrogate also made a change at half time, Thomson replacing Morris.

In the 49th minute, Mahoney had a tame effort saved then McCann (who was awarded Barrow’s man of the match) shot across the goal, but Gordon could not convert.

In the 58th minute Headman pushed Newby down; the 20-yard free kick by McCann hit the bar, Newby skying from close range following the rebound. Our best chance by a country mile.

Four minutes later, Newby shot wide from the edge of the area. We could just not make our chances count!

Muldoon replaced Brenan for Harrogate in the 63rd minute and five minutes later an injured Headman had to be replaced by Faulkner. He had come off worse in a foul on Newby, and had been booked.

Raglan then went down injured and had to be replaced by Walker.

With ten minutes (plus 7 minutes of time added to play), Harrogate seemed to up their game again- or we started to run out of steam. Most dangerous breaks down the left had to be dealt with, affecting our own ability to create chances.

In the 86th minute, a long-range strike by Harrogate’s Smith grazed the bar.

A minute later, Malcolm replaced Harper. Seconds later, he was wrestled to the ground by Heffernan, who was booked.

In the last minute of added time, Thompson was booked for a foul on ex-Bluebird Acquah who might not have scored but ended up on the winning side.

Crowd was 2,386 including 105 visiting fans.

[Methuselah]

Our passing once again all over the place,including the pass to Stanway which was miles off and gifted them an
open goal.
We had at least three bolted on chances to score but fluffed every one.We.were too late to every ball and Harrogate overran us.Granted there was a lot of play acting on Harrogate's part but that doesn,t make up for how bad we were.
Another diabolical performance.I just hope Dinno can turn this round but I,m not holding my breath.Yet again Saturday against Colchester was a false dawn.

[HenneysKnee]

That first half was as bad as anything we’ve seen all season which is a real worry after Saturdays improvements
I did mention on Saturday a concern about how we would go on when it was on us to take the game to a team rather than vice versa but I didn’t expect it to be anywhere near that dreadful!
Not sure if the goal we gifted Harrogate or Newbys miss was the lowlight of the night amongst a lot of lows
If only we’d signed a right back could have at least changed formation on Saturday……looking desperately short in central midfield now as well

[blumooncrab]

That was shockingly bad. As bad as it’s been all season. And as bad as I can remember in the last 15 years, and right up there with the really awful teams we had in the 1970s.

It seems to me that the board took their collective eyes off the ball this summer and now, the ship is slowly sinking. I’m a season ticket holder . I missed Saturday and have been to about 6 away games. I’ve seen 2 wins in the league all season. I know I’m not unique by any stretch but the way this has gone / been managed since Wild left has been catastrophic.

[BoltonBlue]

Constant hoof and volleyball obsession.

So many passes we played tonight received at knee height, it was like watching a Unibond game again. Professional footballers who struggle to keep the ball on the deck and play to feet.

Still think we’ll be fine..just.

[HenneysKnee]

Probably Going down with these players its worst squad since we been in efl its really depressing football to watch so pedestrian like too slow to everything

Completely agree; we can’t break on teams coz we’ve no pace. Is Powell injured now as well?

[Matty]

Credit to Dino for trying to change it after 30 minutes, but unfortunately for him you can change the shape of a turd but you can't change the fact it is still a turd. We handed them that win, gifted them a goal on a plate and all they had to do was do the basics defensively and it wouldn't be a problem. Newby had two great chances and couldn't hit the target, Gordon one. If one of those chances gets taken there's a good chance we go on to win as they were starting to flap and couldn't get out of their half at the start of the second period. In the end with Raglan going off and Harper running through treacle it all became a farce from 80 minutes onwards, any hope of an equaliser were gone at that point, even though we had 4 'strikers' on the pitch.

Thought we might have had it within ourselves to keep our heads above the water on Saturday night, now I'm resigned to the fact that we don't.

[tictactoe]

One step forward Saturday then two steps back tonight
Mahoney should never be in the team
Newby gets away with a lot because he’s local

Is this team good enough to stay up? Does this team show the desire/want to win? Honestly? I’m not sure

[Mark Johnson]

Newby had a good game tonight whether he is local or not.. and he doesn't get away with anything for being local, in fact it is the opposite. People call him out for being local whenever they perceive him having a bad game. Tonight wasn't one of those bad games from him. And far from it. He was one of the few who did well tonight.