The Two Paul's Columns from the Barrow v Sutton United Programme

[Ralph]

THOUGHTS FROM THE CHAIRMAN
By Paul Casson, from the Barrow v Sutton United programme

We have endured a torrid week but, then again, so have most of the contenders at the top of the National League. We missed a golden opportunity to make significant progress on Tuesday evening at Guiseley - and now have the mountain to climb once again. To put no finer point on it, we have thirteen Cup Finals from now until the end of the season. There are now so many teams in contention that a draw in almost any game would mean we would lose ground. Seven at home and six away to conclude a season that has been memorable for both the right and the wrong reasons.

Today our visitors hail from Sutton, who have had their fair share of life changing memories this season. It is not often in the life of a non-League club that Arsenal come banging on the door and it must have been quite the day, the end result notwithstanding. I can't say I'm a great fan of 4G pitches and so today they will be presented with the challenge of the finest Cumbrian turf.

The return of Byron Harrison draws ever closer. He is kicking footballs now and it is no shock that we have missed him. One of the League’s finest strikers he was beginning to develop a fearsome partnership with Ritchie Bennett. I hope we can reunite them while the season still has interest. There was always something odd in the ether when the fixture list came out and that final home game against Dover always seemed to be hanging out there, almost unspoken.

Today however we must deal with the challenge of Sutton. For those who made the long journey, welcome. I hope the A590 did not present too much of an impediment and take with you our best wishes for a safe journey home.


THE MANAGER’S VIEW
By Paul Cox, from the Barrow v Sutton United programme

Don’t give up on us. Keep the faith – there is still a long way to go and a lot of points to be gained this season. I know how you must have felt after the Trophy defeat at Tranmere. We capitulated in a way that was embarrassing. What happened to that application and desire we were showing before Christmas? The turning point was just before half-time. Tranmere won all the individual battles and we looked as if we didn’t want to complete in the second half

That was a far cry from the side I thought we had put together. That sense of pride, who we are, was missing for 45 minutes. Words had to be said. We set standards, raised expectations and then we let ourselves down, the supporters down, the club down. All that changed on Tuesday at Guiseley. I know we lost, but we found a goalkeeper in totally inspired form. Some of the saves he pulled off were out of this world. I am a bit gutted for the lads; gutted for the travelling supporters. We didn’t deserve to lose but in this game you are going to have nights and days like that With performances like that we will definitely achieve something this season. I have no question about that.

I can’t remember a game, in my time at Barrow, where we have had so many chances. We had a perfectly good goal disallowed and I had to say to the boys it was one those games where if you scored one, you get four or five, we were that heavily on top. We couldn’t do anything else apart from put the ball in the net. We bossed the game from start to finish so I was gutted that we couldn’t capitalise on the hard work and the play we had. We’ve won some games of late that we probably have not deserved to win. Our performance levels have not been what they should have been. But at Guiseley the players worked extremely hard and deserved to win - but on occasion you don’t get what you deserve. The display reminded me of the side that went on that 26-game unbeaten run. I have told the players that if they keep in their mind how we played on Tuesday, then the results will come again.

I have that cheekiness at the back of my mind, that if we perform like that there won’t be many teams that can handle us. Disappointing result but the performance was excellent. We can build on it. I want to finish the season on a high.