Pete Wild praises Barrow’s ‘never-say-die’ attitude after win over Bradford

Posted Sunday, August 07, 2022 by PA

Barrow maintained their perfect start to the new season with a dramatic 3-2 victory over Bradford at Holker Street.

Josh Gordon struck the stoppage-time winner – straight after Andy Cook had equalised for the visitors – to make it a maximum six points for Pete Wild’s side.

Manager Wild said: “A draw was probably a fair result but I’m delighted to go on and win the game. It just shows that never-say-die attitude that the players have got.

“You can’t bottle that mentality, it’s unbelievable. It’s not technical or tactical, I can’t give them any of that and I’m so pleased for them.”

Ben Whitfield broke the deadlock on 63 minutes when he fired past Bradford keeper Harry Lewis from the edge of the D.

Bradford levelled two minutes later as Jake Young’s angled drive hit the underside of the bar and bounced down over the line.

Barrow restored their lead five minutes from time through Josh Kay – only for Cook to equalise again in added time.

But Gordon sealed it in the sixth minute of added time as Barrow backed up last week’s 3-2 win at Stockport with another three points to confound the pre-season predictions of a relegation fight.

Wild added: “I know why people had us down there, statistically we’ve been third bottom the last two years.

“But anybody who has done their homework, the signings we’ve made and what we’ve done across pre-season shouldn’t be surprised by what we are achieving.

“The longer people disregard us the better because it allows us to keep going under the radar. But keep putting in performances like that and the pressure will come.

“It’s all about progressing the football club on and off the pitch. I was brought here on a three-year plan to make the club better.”

Mark Hughes’ Bradford are strongly fancied to be in the promotion race this season but have picked up only one point from their opening two games.

Hughes admitted: “We’re frustrated. Second half wasn’t anywhere near the level we need to be at.

“I was reasonably pleased about the first half without creating any clear-cut opportunities. We had plenty of corners and free-kicks on the edge of the box when we didn’t quite produce the ball we needed to.

“But we were really poor second half and got sucked into a game that we’re clearly not very good at. Credit to the opposition who ran around and really put us under pressure.

“We didn’t deal with the longer ball and second balls when they are dropping. When you are defending long, high balls coming down with snow on them sometimes it’s difficult to get distance to clear.

“We were too easy to play against and that has to change.”