Pete Wild reveals half-time team talk brought Barrow to life during Wrexham draw

Posted Sunday, August 27, 2023 by PA

Pete Wild admitted his half-time rocket inspired Barrow to earn a point in their 1-1 draw at home to Wrexham.

The Bluebirds had been outfought and outplayed in the first half, but Wrexham only led by Elliot Lee’s 12th-minute penalty at the break after Tyrell Warren brought down Ollie Palmer in the box.

Barrow turned it around in the second half and equalised through Emile Acquah’s fine curling effort, though they could not force a second goal for an unlikely victory.

And Wild was happy that his players’ true selves showed up after half-time.

“It is a cliche but that was definitely a game of two halves,” Wild said. “The number one thing at half-time was that we were frustrated by the penalty.

“Our lad (Warren) has got a touch on the ball, none of their players and I think it’s a poor one, and that gave them the impetus in the game. They had the momentum and, let’s be honest, they were far better in the first half.

“We were holding on at half-time and I had a right go at them, which I don’t do often, because I just felt they paid Wrexham too much respect, they were first to everything.

“I said ‘lads, they’re in our league, they’ve come up from the league below – get into them, start winning tackles and start getting amongst them’. When we did that in the second half, it looked like we were the only team going to win the game.

“The second half team is them – that’s them, that’s what they’re like every week. They weren’t like that in the first half, maybe because it’s Wrexham and because of what comes with Wrexham, but I was really frustrated at half-time.

“There was nothing tactical said at half-time, it was just telling them to get into them.

“We don’t pay people too much respect here, we get after teams, and we just needed to do that.”

Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson admitted his team should have wrapped up the points by the break.

Though they have hit the most goals in the league so far this term, he was left to rue a host of missed opportunities when they had been in complete control.

“I thought it was a good overall performance in the first half, one that warranted us coming in two or three up,” said Parkinson. “We controlled it and created some great chances, but we needed to be a bit more ruthless in front of goal. They had a 15-minute period and a couple of decisions went against us.

“I think in any game a team will have a period where they’re on top. Sometimes a home team will come out with a response and they did and they got back in it. We wrestled back control, but we couldn’t quite find a winner.

“I’m disappointed we didn’t take some of those chances because there were some real gilt-edged opportunities.

“When it’s only 1-0 it gives them hope, and they’ve got some good players. It can be a difficult environment to come into. I’d loved to have got the three points but there were a lot of positives, we just need to be a bit more clinical.”