Barrow boss Pete Wild delighted with win over Crawley

Posted Tuesday, April 11, 2023 by PA

Barrow boss Pete Wild was delighted with his side’s response after they hammered relegation-threatened Crawley 4-0.

But the Bluebirds manager played down any talk of the play-offs with his side five points adrift of seventh-placed Salford.

Wild was understandably less than impressed after being humbled 3-0 at Crewe on Good Friday.

But Josh Gordon’s hat-trick, which took his tally for the season to 15, and record signing Ged Garner’s first goal for the club did the damage at Holker Street.

“We owed it to ourselves to put in a better performance and be more ruthless in front of goal,” said Wild.

“There’s so much that was pleasing. To a letter the players have gone out and delivered for me. We looked lively, we had people joining in and it was good, intricate play.

“For the first goal we had five people in the box, I showed them the clip at half-time and said: ‘Hallelujah, I’ve got some players in the box who want to score goals’.

“They should be bashing each other out of the way to score goals and we haven’t had enough of that this season. It was great to see.

“When we press with that intensity, so many managers come and say: ‘We don’t play against you because you’re the best pressing intensity team in the league,’ and that’s a big compliment.

“At times I think we let ourselves down because we don’t do that and we flatter to deceive at times and when we do it like today it’s really pleasing to see.

“Let’s see what we can get from Swindon on Saturday before we start talking about play-off races.

“Someone told me a stat that if Barrow finish ninth or above it’s the fifth best season in the club’s history.

“I told the players not to underestimate what they’re doing for the club, they’ve been outstanding.

“If they can grasp that then it’s an exciting four weeks. I’m dead proud of them.”

Scott Lindsey saw his Crawley side slip back into the relegation zone after Hartlepool picked up a precious point against promotion-seeking Stevenage.

He said: “We were beaten by the better side, they were miles better than us.

“We’re bare bones, I’ve had to make a number of changes based on injuries and players with knocks. It was a difficult afternoon for us.

“The team that I picked should be capable of going out there and competing. I didn’t want to make many changes, but I had to. We weren’t good enough.

“I don’t want to lose players with worse injuries and that’s why I named the team I did with certain players on the bench. I said that to the fans who were questioning my team selection after the game.

“We’re confident with our home games coming up. Our home record’s been very good and our away one not so good.”