Hot Like A Furness
Well last season, Barrow didnt get off to the best of starts but once they found their shape the team managed to end of the season in style which included a 6-0 win over promotion contenders Tamworth. Barrow also managed to get in a much better league position with their good end of season run taking them upto 13th place.
The New Season
Well its Steve Gold´s first full season and hopefully we can continue it like the last one was finished. A few movers in and out of the revolving door at Barrow certainly took place over the summer, mainly thanks to our generous parent club Crewe.
Transfers
Despite having no transfer budget, we tried our best to find the bargains who were still left on the market.
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Person | From | Fee | | ---------------------------------------------------| | fon Williams, Owain| Free Transfer | Free | - Released from Crewe Reserves | ---------------------------------------------------| | Daniel, Colin | Crewe | Loan | | ---------------------------------------------------| | Swailes, Danny | Free Transfer | Free | - A top class defender for this level| ---------------------------------------------------| | Blackwood, Michael | Free Transfer | Free | - Pacey and can play anywhere down the left| ---------------------------------------------------| | Rae, Alex | Free Transfer | Free | - Our new Assistant Manager!| ---------------------------------------------------| | Webb, Tom | Free Transfer | Free | - Highly talented striker, only 17!| ---------------------------------------------------| | Moore, Byron | Crewe | Loan | | ---------------------------------------------------| | Marshall, Ben | Crewe | Loan | | ---------------------------------------------------| | Collins, Sam | Free Transfer | Free | - Another defender to add competition| ---------------------------------------------------| | Salmon, Mark | Free Transfer | Free | - Rejects AFC Telford for us, good lad!| ---------------------------------------------------| | Smart, Bally | Free Transfer | Free | - Pacey mid to add some depth| ---------------------------------------------------| | Waterhouse, Joey | Free Transfer | Free | - Scouts rate him highly, injured atm!| ---------------------------------------------------| | Gold, Steve | Albion Rovers | £0 | - I just had to! Would you! | ---------------------------------------------------| </pre>
Transfers Out
All the players who have left where without doubt surplus to my requirements and some even took too much on the wage bill so had to go as sitting in the reserves knowing they would never feature isnt my thing!
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> | Person | To | Fee | | ---------------------------------------------------| | Woodyatt, Lee | Free Transfer | Free | | ---------------------------------------------------| | Thomson, Peter | Free Transfer | Free | | ---------------------------------------------------| | Rogan, Nick | Free Transfer | Free | | ---------------------------------------------------| | Sheridan, Darren | Free Transfer | Free | | ---------------------------------------------------| | Bayliss, David | Free Transfer | Free | | ---------------------------------------------------| | Henney, Matt | Free Transfer | Free | | ---------------------------------------------------| | Kilty, Mark | Free Transfer | Free | | ---------------------------------------------------| | Elderton, Ryan | Free Transfer | Free | | ---------------------------------------------------| | Hoolickin, Lee | Free Transfer | Free | | ---------------------------------------------------| | Bond, Andrew | Free Transfer | Free | | ---------------------------------------------------| | McLachlan, Fraser | Northwich | Loan | | ---------------------------------------------------| | Thompson, Chris | Free Transfer | Free | | ---------------------------------------------------| | Vincenti, Peter | Boston Utd | Loan | | ---------------------------------------------------| | Newnes, David | Enfield Town | Loan | | ---------------------------------------------------| | Watt, James | Enfield Town | Loan | | ---------------------------------------------------| </pre>
Staff
With the new manager there just has to be new staff of course, well and for the part that the staff at Barrow decided to leave but that was fine with me, it meant being able to bring in some of my own that I wanted at the club!
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> | Person | From | Fee | | --------------------------------------------------| | Wright, Matt | Free Transfer | Free | | --------------------------------------------------| | Coleman, Peter | Free Transfer | Free | | --------------------------------------------------| | Martin, Josh | Free Transfer | Free | | --------------------------------------------------| | Paterson, Ally | Free Transfer | Free | | --------------------------------------------------| | Lee, Lee | Free Transfer | Free | | --------------------------------------------------| | Wilson, Paul | Free Transfer | Free | | --------------------------------------------------| | Russell, Craig | Free Transfer | Free | | --------------------------------------------------| | McManus, Jim | Free Transfer | Free | | --------------------------------------------------| </pre>
As already mentioned, I also brought Alex Rae in as a Player/Assistant Manager, Alex knows he wont feature too much in the first team and it was something he also agreed upon, he is a fighter and I hope he can bring that across to our players and help them in our fight in getting out of this division and beyond.
The Season
Whats been really impressive so far with Barrow is that we are not relying on an individual to score all our goals, although it does help having a super striker bagging in 40 goals a season at this level it doesnt always guarantee you success for promotion so I am happy that so far we are having a pretty much team effort with even our defenders grabbing some of the goals.
Our season started off very brightly before a small dip of about three games before we then recovered back onto the road of success and climbed back up the table.
We travelled to Southport for our opening game and that itself is a massive game for both clubs, but we went home the much happier side with a 4-1 victory in our hands.
It was followed by a 3-0 win over Tamworth at home in Barrow this time around, although we had double the scoreline last time I was happy with the win and keeping a clean sheet, we then visited Davie´s Hinckley and although some would say we could have won the game, I was just pleased that we didnt let in another 5 like last time, it ended 1-1.
Two home games followed against Stalybridge and Alfreton, both teams have not enjoyed the best of starts with Stalybridge having not even scored a goal yet this season! Im afraid we added to their misery and showed a repeat performance against Alfreton by thrashing both teams 5-0, something for the fans to admire this season!
Then came our blip! We faces Burscough away and despite being more than even in every dept over the 90 minutes, they took their chances better than us and somehow won 3-0, I feel we should have got a draw, this defeat effected us in our next game as faced Histon and managed to draw just 2-2. If things couldnt get worse, we then faced promotion battlers Boston and in another game I felt we should have easily won, we went back home with a 1-0 defeat.
But somehow the lads had to be picked up again and we faced Worksop next, they had got themselves into a play off place and im delighted be beat them, even if it was only 1-0, we then travelled to Hucknall to not just grab 3 points but also scored 3 goals, which is another good result.
Next up Nuneaton, a club who seem to manage to get all the highly calibre loans but still do poorly, they gave us a good showing though but just not good enough as we win 2-1.
FA Cup
We enter the cup at the 2nd Qualifying round and would face Heybridge away, a game I felt we just had to win and the lads delivered in style for this one! A massive win, 7-1 winners and a great party on the bus for the journey home.
Back to the League!
Well with such a great cup game we travelled to Redditch and showed them that it wasnt a freak result and smashed them for 5! A very happy result.
Setanta Shield
Some lucky sods somehow got out of having to play in the first round! But we didnt unfortunately but that doesnt matter, we faced Alfreton again and once again beat them, only 3-0 but it should have been a far great margin.
FA Cup
Next up in the qualifiers was Chatham, this time everyone expected another big win but I was happy just to advance if truth be told, its only going to get harder every round, but we got a very convincing 3-0 win to take us through.
Back to the League!
An entertaining game against Farsley next for us which ended up 4-3 and it suprised me more than anyone that Farsley scored three, but every chance they had they converted, I was just glad that Tommy Webb grabbed all 4 goals for himself to earn us the three points.
Next up we faced Cambridge City, they were the early pace setters but seem to falling down the league now and we added to their misery by winning 3-1 and taking us into 2nd place in the league having gone down to 11th at one point!
Summary
Well I cant complain, we had our blip and moved down the table quite considerably, even out of the top ten, but since our defeat we managed to go on a bit of run and thankfully so aswell as we need to keep on Hinckleys toes and hope they slip up. Its nice to secure a play off place but it would be so much better to go up autoamtically, however, we are predicted for a mid table finish and anything can yet happen, its a long way to go and hopefully we can maintain our form.
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