Barrow must regroup and stick together – Frustrated boss Pete Wild

Barrow boss Pete Wild cut a frustrated figure after a disappointing 2-1 defeat to struggling Forest Green.

But the Bluebirds chief urged his side to “stick together” and get through their sticky patch after they lost ground in the promotion race.

Cole Stockton’s stunning 25-yard chip of emergency loan goalkeeper Vincente Reyes restored parity after Kyle McAllister’s deflected header put the visitors in front at Holker Street.

But Manny Osabede was allowed to run through Barrow’s midfield to fire home a second-half winner.

After seeing his side drop four points off the top three, Wild said: “I’m frustrated tonight.

“First and foremost well done to Forest Green, they’ve taken their opportunities.

“But it’s two silly, frustrating goals for us to give away. They’ve taken them well and left here with the points.

“It’s a really frustrating evening. It’s an evening that promised so much.

“Again for large parts I felt completely in control and quite at ease.

“To come away with nothing is a tough pill to swallow.

“We just now need to regroup and stick together.

“Nobody said it would be easy, nobody said it was going to be a walk in the park.

“It’s certainly not been that at the moment. It’s really important now that we stick together and get back to basics and make sure we come out of this little blip as soon as possible.”

Relegation-threatened Rovers dragged themselves off the foot of Sky Bet League Two with a welcome win.

It was Steve Cotterill’s first since taking charge of the Gloucestershire club and more importantly ended a painful 15-game winless run which stretched back to the end of October.

“It’s a brilliant win for us,” said Cotterill, whose side had a 472-mile round trip for the game.

“There’s no shying away from the fact it’s a long way to come for us.

“We didn’t want to come all this way and leave with nothing, so we’re delighted.

“Hopefully it’s a sign of an upward curve for us. The players have been brilliant since I’ve come in and this is what we’ve been working towards.

“They’ve worked hard on the training ground and results have been good.

“A special mention has to go to Vincente (Reyes). He’s come here on an emergency loan for us and been thrown straight in.

“We want to thank everybody at Norwich for their co-operation yesterday (Monday) to make it happen.”