Phil Brown heaps praise on Barrow after thumping win over Forest Green

Posted Saturday, April 16, 2022 by PA

Phil Brown heaped praise on his resurgent Barrow side after they hammered league leaders Forest Green 4-0 at Holker Street.

The battling Bluebirds secured Brown his first win since taking charge as they put the League Two table-toppers to the sword.

Goals from Joe Grayson, John Rooney, Matt Platt and Aaron Amadi-Holloway ended the hosts’ four-game losing streak in style with a first home win for four months.

But most importantly they opened up a three-point cushion over the drop zone and have a game in hand and superior goal difference over Oldham.

“I got the reaction I wanted to a man,” beamed Brown.

“It’s not just the 11 that were out there. Something that needs highlighting is on Wednesday we had 24 players on the training ground looking to get into this team.

“It makes my job harder, but better. It gives you selection headaches over who you’ve left at home.

“I’ve got nothing but admiration for this group of players. They want to do well for themselves and for this football club.

“They showed that today and proved that today. It’s not all about your quality, it’s about your attitude.

“You can talk about man-of-the-match, but it could be seven or eight of them.

“You can hear a good team before you see one, and on Thursday you could hear them getting stuck in. That came from the likes of Browny (Connor Brown) and Rooney.

“Mentally we were strong today. The back four was a never-say-die attitude and ‘you shall not pass’. Collectively it was a great team performance.”

Rovers saw their lead at the summit slashed to just two points after looking like sewing up the title with time to spare earlier in the season.

Rob Edwards was left bitterly frustrated after slumping to a disappointing defeat.

He said: “It was a difficult day for us. It wasn’t a good day for us.

“I take nothing away from Barrow. We’ve been very honest when we’ve lost games of football this season if the opposition have been better than us so congratulations to Barrow. They were better than us today.

“The frustrating thing for us was they won too many first and second balls.

“To concede three set pieces when we’ve conceded two all season is another big frustration for us.

“If you look at the actual result you’d say it was a freak result. But as a performance they were ruthless and full credit to them.

“We have to draw a line under it very quickly and react properly to that.

“It will be a similar game on Monday against another team fighting for their lives.

“They will be up for it and we will have to be up for it too.”