Pete Wild asked his players to “regroup” following Barrow‘s 2-1 defeat to relegation-threatened Forest Green Rovers on Tuesday night.
The Bluebirds were handed their second home defeat of the season by the Nailsworth club, with Kyle McAllister and Manny Osadebe giving the visitors three valuable points in their survival bid. Cole Stockton got on the scoresheet to level the game before the former Bradford City midfielder Osadebe secured the win in the second half.
It is Barrow’s second loss on the spin after a 2-0 defeat on the road to AFC Wimbledon and they have now slipped out of the automatic promotion spots and into fifth place. Wrexham‘s win over bottom side Sutton United pushed the Welsh club above them after Crewe Alexandra jumped ahead last weekend.
The fixture list sees the Cumbrian club travel to a resurgent Salford City this weekend, who are still unbeaten since the appointment of Karl Robinson last month. Pete Wild called for his side to be resilient in his post-match comments following the defeat to Forest Green, saying: [Quotes via The Barrow Mail] “We just now need to regroup and stick together. Nobody said it would be easy, nobody said it was going to be a walk in the park.
“It’s certainly not been that at the moment. It’s really important now that we stick together and get back to basics and make sure we come out of this little blip as soon as possible.”
The 39-year-old was quick to praise the Gloucestershire club’s performance at Holker Street, in what was their first league win since October when they beat Crawley Town 2-1 at The New Lawn. Wild added: “First and foremost well done to Forest Green, they’ve taken their opportunities.
“But it’s two silly, frustrating goals for us to give away. They’ve taken them well and left with the points. We had lots of territory again like we did against Wimbledon after the first half hour on Saturday.”
Barrow have a fairly easy fixture list ahead of them, with their trip to Moor Lane followed by the visit of Bradford City to round out February. March starts with games against Crawley, Gillingham and Colchester United.
Writer’s View
Barrow are in a small slump right now following their loss to FGR. As Wild said in his post-match interview, it has been small mistakes that have cost them in their last two outings. The Bluebirds have proved themselves to be formidable opponents this season, and it is surely just a small blip in form that can be resolved quickly.
They visit a Salford side full of beans this weekend, and will surely have their work cut out against a squad that was competing at the very top of League Two last season. Pete Wild will look to the upcoming games against Crawley and Colchester to rack more points on the board and are still firmly in the promotion picture. Despite the latest setbacks in the league, Barrow are on course to beat their best-ever points total in a League Two season, only needing nine points from their remaining fixtures to match the 62 points they achieved last season.
1st Class Honours in Multimedia Journalism at Salford University. Writing mainly about League Two.