Barrow boss Pete Wild not getting carried away with impressive start to season

Posted Sunday, November 20, 2022 by PA

Barrow boss Pete Wild is pleased with his side’s progress after an impressive start to the season but insists he will not be getting carried away.

The Bluebirds climbed up to fourth in League Two after a blistering start against Hartlepool led them to a 3-1 victory over the division’s bottom club.

Josh Gordon took his tally for the season to 10 with a fourth-minute opener before unselfishly setting up Billy Waters to make it 3-0 in the 21st minute after Ben Whitfield had doubled the Cumbrians’ advantage.

Pools were better in the second half and Chris Missilou registered a debut goal 13 minutes from time but nothing could stop Barrow from recording a fourth successive home league win.

Barrow are now four points off an automatic promotion place but Wild, who had seen his side beaten in their two previous FA Cup and league outings, is staying grounded.

He said: “It is about getting to 50 points first then we will re-assess. Nothing was won at the end of November.

“I would love to be in this position or even higher come May but I am not getting carried away with positions.

“The plan is to progress the club and we are happy with the way it is progressing.”

Gordon’s latest goal was a 25-yarder curler into an empty new after a latest blunder from keeper Ben Killip who rushed from his area to clear but conceded possession.

Pools conceded a second to Whitfield four minutes later before Waters’ sixth goal in five league games – a tap-in after Gordon’s pass – wrapped up the points.

Wild said of leading Gordon: “Josh works ever so hard to get those goals. We are really pleased he is finishing them off.

“It is a team effort, but Josh is the one to put the ball in the net. He is such a good finisher that he deserves what he gets at the end of it.”

Hartlepool prop up the League Two standings, two points behind Colchester and safety, after suffering sixth league defeat in seven games.

United boss Keith Curle said of his side’s plight: “We looked like strangers.

“We haven’t got a changing room full of players that make consistently good decisions, and it is affecting us.

“We showed at times, and that is the frustrating point, the effort and commitment is there. But at other times you think ‘wow, does this lot even know each other?’.

“I told them, as a team, you are not helping each other,” added Curle, who said changes were needed.

“You change their mentality, how they train, their application, desire and focus. Then hopefully you see a change in their performance levels consistently.

“If you cannot get those players to change, you change players. There is no shying away from it.

“It is nothing personal, it is professional. If you get let go by a League Two club at the bottom of the division, there is usually a reason why.”