Stephen Clemence head over heels with joy as Neo Eccleston shows off his moves

Posted Sunday, September 01, 2024 by PA

Barrow boss Stephen Clemence revealed match-winning defender Neo Eccleston rose to the challenge of showcasing his somersaulting skills to the club’s supporters.

The on-loan Huddersfield right-back first demonstrated his gymnastic ability in a “dance-off” with team-mate Katia Kouyate during the final training session ahead of the trip to North Yorkshire.

And he displayed them to a wider audience after rising to head in Robbie Gotts’ 74th-minute corner to seal a 1-0 victory.

The 20-year-old ex-Chelsea academy hopeful completed a spectacular double somersault in front of ecstatic Bluebirds fans, who were celebrating their first away win since December.

Eccleston’s goal also made it five wins from six games since Clemence took over as boss this summer and the ex-Gillingham manager said: “I’d already seen the somersault during a dance-off Neo had with Katia in training on Friday. I told him that I’d rather see it after he’s scored a goal and he’s gone and done that the next day!

“It’s his first senior goal and he’ll remember it for a long time. The somersault celebration will also live long in the memories of Barrow fans and we’re really happy to have him with us.”

On ending the Cumbrians’ wait for a first away win in 2024, Clemence added: “The club had not won away for a long time so it’s good to get that monkey off our back and if we are going to do something this season, we’ll need to pick up points on the road.

“I thought the lads were outstanding and we felt hard done by at half-time, because we didn’t know what the goal Niall (Canavan) scored was ruled out for and I still don’t having watched it back.

“We were dominant for long periods and right until injury time, when Paul Farman had to make some excellent saves and we stood firm under some late pressure.”

Harrogate boss Simon Weaver admitted his team served up a “lot of dross” until the final throes and, having lost their last four home games with 13 goals conceded, is concerned that some players fail to cope with the pressure at a stadium that is “hardly the San Siro”.

“We were good for the last six minutes but, for the first 84, we served up a lot of dross and I want to apologise to the fans,” he said.

“I thought it was an awful game of football and we lost to a particularly poor goal, so we’re disappointed and feel like we have let people down.

“We’ve had a go at the players about the lack of consistency. That seems to be more of an issue at home where lads shrivel under the pressure – but this is hardly the San Siro and, to be fair to the home fans, when we were getting strikes on goal and applying some pressure in the last few minutes, they were right behind us.”