Barrow AFC v Bristol Rovers FC (match thread)

[blumooncrab]

Great performance today. We are going to do well with spirit like that . Felt like a win . Massive commitment and the crowd loved it. Bristol Rovers didn’t have a clue apart from playing the ref which they succeeded with: bunch of average cheats and thugs

[PRR]

A cigar in the eye for Barton. Ref was a rocket snapper. Our injuries will dry up once we're training over the dry Res.

[Fazered]

All the Bristol players have been offered WWF contracts and the ref has got a job in snooker making sure the white ball is in the right position when replaced after a foul shot. His whistle has been retired as it is worn out.

[MisterPleasant]

Cooper full of praise for the spirit of the squad. As for the injuries, "you reap what you sow". Sea could be ready next Saturday but the rest, October/November. Going to be working hard over weekend to try and persuade players to come to us.

[blue nige]

Can't wait to see the Ellis incident, I knew as soon as the guy fell down holding his face he was going to send Ellis off ,from where I was stood (popular side) we got a free kick one of their players then appeared to attempt a stamp on brough Ellis then pushed him over if he sends Ellis off ,one of their's should have gone as well,
Bristol tried every trick in the book to get bookings and nothing free kicks!

Can't praise the lads enough for that effort absolutely phenomenal!, just hope Zanzala's OK, Gordon must have double duracell batteries, after a shaky start Jones was immense ,in the end we could have won it but under the circumstances I'll take the draw!

[Methuselah]

Fantastic battling performance today by the Bluebirds.Felt like we were playing against 12 men today.
The referee and the linesman were abysmal and I think the club should make an official complaint to the FA regarding the ref's decisions accompanied with video evidence.These people are fully salaried today so they should know the rules of the game.
I like the way Mark.Cooper reshuffled the team of 10 men to produce the performance we ended up with and a game we probably would have have won if it hadn,t been for the ref who didn,t seem to have read the rules.
I can only see us moving forward if this game is anything to go by in spite of all the injuries we are carrying resulting in not being able to pick our first eleven

[ChrisCrossy]

Worst referee I’ve seen in years. That is all I want to say about the match until I’ve calmed down.

[JohnnyK]

Great result, considering how crap the officials were...

[Moribund]

Brough held the player's legs, he reacted, and Ellis throttled him - no appealing that. Obviously more went on as there were arms and legs flying everywhere, but they had no idea who to show the cards to.

[Bombadel]

Can't wait to see the Ellis incident, I knew as soon as the guy fell down holding his face he was going to send Ellis off ,from where I was stood (popular side) we got a free kick one of their players then appeared to attempt a stamp on brough Ellis then pushed him over if he sends Ellis off ,one of their's should have gone as well,
Bristol tried every trick in the book to get bookings and nothing free kicks!

Can't praise the lads enough for that effort absolutely phenomenal!, just hope Zanzala's OK, Gordon must have double duracell batteries, after a shaky start Jones was immense ,in the end we could have won it but under the circumstances I'll take the draw!

Taken from the BR Twitter feed, clearly a lot went on before as mentioned.

[Barrow Lad New]

2,116 fans including 293 Rovers supporters witnessed a feisty enthralling game where we not only levelled deep into first half added time after going down to 10 men and conceding, but saw out the whole of the second half with superb defending and saves from Farman, plus some spirited attacking ourselves where only the bar and Belshaw stopped us taking the lead.

Rovers started brightly and Farman was called upon in the 7th minute to tip a Pitman shot from a Nicholson cross round the post for a corner. A Collins shot then grazed the bar.

In the 10th minute, Barrow had an excellent chance to score when Belshaw tipped a Zanzala header over the bar, after a great cross from the left.

The end-to-end entertainment continued as round the 20 minute mark a good through ball from White found Zanzala in front of goal but he could not control the ball. Farman then saved from Collins.

On the half-hour a melee in Barrow's penalty area resulted in an off-ball tussle and a straight red for Ellis, with what appeared to be retaliation for a bad Rovers challenge. Barrow now faced over nearly 1 hour 15 minutes with ten men due to extended added time in both halves.

Jones then replaced Kay (who seemed also to be seeing red wound up by a series of poor refereeing decisions on physical challenges) but, fresh on the field, this seemed to momentarily distract Barrow who, within a five minute spell from the 38th minute change found themselves under the cosh with a shot over the bar from Pitman, an excellent close-range save by Farman from Collins, a gifted ball in front of goal which Collins managed to slide past the post, and finally the goal from inside the area from Nicholson.

A goal down, a man down and continual pressure. At this stage, things looked bleak.

Eight minutes of added time was signalled and Barrow took full advantage of this with an incisive attacking moved followed by a close-range goal from Banks in the fifth of the minutes.

This galvanised Barrow into a superb, battling, second half performance where we not only defended well but made good use of the ball when the opportunity arose.

Five minutes in, an excellent free kick from Williams (who had replaced the injured Brown in that eventful added time) was tipped over the bar by Belshaw. In the 64th minute, good work by Zanzala enabled Gordon (awarded Barrow's man of the match) to drill the ball right along the goalline- with no-one around to poke it into the net.

A minute later, Gordon crashed a shot against Rovers' bar, and then Belshaw saved a Grayson free kick.

Barrow had seemingly not only nullified the one-man advantage but looked capable of a winner. However, the strange refereeing decisions continued with Zanzala being booked when it looked like Taylor should have had the yellow.

Despite going down twice and looking like he was suffering, Farman's brilliant goalkeeping also saved the day when Rovers mounted a late campaign for the winner, sensing we would run out of steam. In the last 10 minutes he saved or blocked four potential goals, including a couple from corners in the dying seconds of added time.

Definitely a point gained for Barrow in adverse circumstances and the Barrow fans gave the players a deserved ovation. Rovers were left wondering how they failed to capitalise.

[Jim]

Re Twitter phot, hmm, guilty as charged M'lud? Mind you, with Brown grabbing Bristol player's arm as well, he was clearly up to something, so he got away with it.

[Bombadel]

Re Twitter phot, hmm, guilty as charged M'lud? Mind you, with Brown grabbing Bristol player's arm as well, he was clearly up to something, so he got away with it.

Agreed, maybe it will give James Jones a chance to shine, thought he was decent last season before the injuries

[bluessupporter]

Was it 2416 or 2116?

[db1967]

2116