Barrow’s climb is a victory for hard work, says boss Pete Wild

Posted Wednesday, November 29, 2023 by PA

Pete Wild believes his side’s hard work is paying off after Barrow moved into the Sky Bet League Two promotion places with a comfortable 2-0 win over Walsall at Holker Street.

Goals from Ben Whitfield and Niall Canavan secured all three points as the Bluebirds extended their record unbeaten league run to 10 games.

Whitfield put the home side ahead after 11 minutes, controlling Canavan’s long range pass before placing the ball perfectly into the far corner from the edge of the area.

The Bluebirds got the second they deserved with 19 minutes remaining when skipper Canavan pounced to force the ball home from close range for his second of the season, after George Ray’s initial effort was blocked.

Barrow have now registered five consecutive league wins for the first time since the 1967-68 season and moved up to third in the table.

Wild said: “Winning games breeds confidence and the more you win the more confident you get.

“I’m really pleased for the players and staff and everyone is really working hard this season and that’s paying off in terms of results.

“Good seasons are built on good runs and consistency, so the longer we can keep this run going the better for everyone at the club.”

“I thought it was a really solid front footed performance tonight. They say this is a tough place to come and I wanted it to be just that tonight.

“The way we started the game and the energy we played with was really pleasing and we got our first goal from being positive and getting at Walsall from the start of the game.

“I thought the way Walsall would play would give us space between the lines so I thought it would be an interesting one for Ben Whitfield to start and it paid off for us.”

Walsall are now six matches without a win and manager Mat Sadler said: “It was a tough watch for anyone who was at the game.

“We went into the game knowing how poor the pitch was and we highlighted how poor the pitch was and it suited the way they play as they play here every week, how they get goals, how they create chances.

“They get it in the areas and create chances from the wide areas which is what they did and we didn’t do that nearly enough for the ability we’ve got in our team.

“So we’re extremely disappointed to let them get their noses in front on a turgid pitch and we didn’t get anything near good enough going for the standards we set ourselves.

“We dropped well below the standards that we set ourselves tonight but we will put it right.”