16 March 2021

Sam Hird praises Barrow after taking three hard-fought points from Cheltenham

16 March 2021

Barrow chalked up a third-straight win in their battle to avoid the drop and assistant boss Sam Hird praised his players for giving their all following Tuesday night’s 2-0 League Two victory at Cheltenham

An early James Jones goal and a Sean Long own goal midway through the second half wrapped up the win and Hird thought it was no more than the visitors deserved.

He said: “In the first half we weren’t at our best but the lads dug in making blocks, tackles, headers and we scored with probably a lucky goal.

“In the second half I thought we were a lot better. We didn’t look comfy but we didn’t look like we’d get broken down and we made it 2-0 and saw the game out well.

“I thought in all honesty we deserved it in the end. The players put their bodies on the line because they know we are in a dogfight.

“We were confident going into the game because we know what we have in the building.

“We have a clear structure and game plan under (caretaker manager) Rob (Kelly) and the lads know what he wants. They are giving it us on the pitch. The performances are there and the results are there.

“We have known for a while where we are, we know what we are and we know what we need to do to stay in the league.”

Jones’ second-minute opener had a touch of fortune about it as his shot from the right went through a sea of legs and trickled over the line beyond goalkeeper Josh Griffiths’ despairing dive.

Cheltenham had plenty of chances to level before the break with Sam Smith and Alfie May having efforts cleared off the line, while a long-range Chris Hussey shot was deflected onto the post.

But the Robins could not maintain that momentum after the break and conceded again after 66 minutes when a long throw was not dealt with and Griffiths’ attempted clearance hit defender Long before ending up in the net.

Cheltenham boss Michael Duff said: “In the first half I am not quite sure how we’ve not scored two or three goals and we’ve conceded from a freak.

“It looked like it was going to be one of those nights, but we need to do more in the second half. We need to do better than that. They showed more spirit and fight than us, which should be impossible.

“I thought the whole second half was rubbish, frankly. We didn’t do any part of the game properly. We didn’t defend properly, we didn’t pass it, moved it slowly and didn’t do the things we asked them to do.

“It’s too easy to point fingers at defenders for poor goals and let centre-forwards off the hook but they are all in it together.”

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