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| Barrow and Luton Town Players shake hands after the match |
Barrow seal another giant killing performance at the Furness Building Society Stadium with a hard earned 1-0 victory over play-off positioned Luton Town.
Alex-Ray Harvey scored his first goal in a Barrow shirt with a 73rd minute strike to seal all three points. Harvey combined with substitute Paul Rutherford on the left hand side of the box. The winger looked up and laid the ball back to Harvey who sunk his 15 yard shot with pace into the bottom right corner.
It was a close and gritty first half with crunching tackles flying in from both sides. Luton Town had slightly more possession and created the better chances in the first half.
Aaron O’Connor came closest with a header from 6 yards out that was easily gathered by Barrow goalkeeper Shaun Pearson.
At the start of the second half, Andy Cook nearly broke the deadlock when he received Harvey’s long ball pass and blazed his shot wide of the right hand post on 49th minute.
In the closing stages, Luton Town nearly grabbed an equaliser but substitute Jean Paul Kissock’s 25 yard free kick was saved by Pearson.
Harvey’s goal earned Barrow their first victory over the high flying Hatters while they have been in the Conference, ending Luton Town’s unbeaten run since early November.
The Bluebirds have now beaten all top three teams, Wrexham, Fleetwood Town and Luton at the Furness Building Society Stadium.
Barrow Manager Dave Bayliss says team spirit gave them the winning edge over Luton Town in my interview recorded for The Bay’s Goalzone.
All the action can be heard in my match report recorded for The Bay’s Goalzone.
Giant Killers
In the second of three home matches in eight days for the Bluebirds, Dave Bayliss named an unchanged side from Saturday’s team that beat Kettering Town 3-0. With Adam Boyes and Joe Jackson serving suspensions, the Starting X1 adopted the same 4-3-3 Formation with lone striker Andy Cook featuring in the side.
The first half was tight with little chances on target for both sides.
Luton Town started the better side and were passing the ball fluidly with a great tempo in the opening 10 minutes. But Barrow marked tightly and stopped Luton from playing the way they wanted to. Luton had an early half chance but Craig McAllister’s tame header that was easily saved by Pearson.
The match started getting a little personal as crunching tackles and off the ball incidents became common. The worst of them was a clash of heads between Andy Cook and Janos Kovacs that earned the Luton Town player a yellow card.
Barrow’s best chance came when Paul Smith flicked the ball into the box from 20 yards out and Richie Baker’s shot at the near side post was blocked by Luton goalkeeper Mark Tyler.
The first 20 minutes of the second half was pretty much the same with little chances and all the action firmly in the midfield.
There was a comical moment when the referee turned round accidently caught Luton’s Stuart Fleetwood in the face. To add insult to injury, he got a yellow card for his protests against Richie Baker’s earlier challenge.
The turning point in the match came midway through the second half when Paul Rutherford was bought on in place of Chris Turner. Rutherford injected pace and creativity into the side and assisted Harvey’s winning goal.
Andy Cook has a late chance to also score for the Bluebirds when Rutherford’s quick free kick was crossed into the box by Jack Mackreth and couldn’t quite reach Cook at the left hand post.
In stoppage time, Rutherford smuggled the ball along the bi-line to reach Cook and his tapped shot almost snuck past Tyler.
The victory was sensational for the Bluebirds and it clearly wasn’t a fluke.
The only dampener to the day was the match attendance of only 925, which is the lowest of the season.
Magic Number 50
Dave Bayliss has expressed the team’s aim for the season was to score 50 points and victory over Luton Town has taken the Bluebirds up to the 51 points.
Having achieved their goal for the season already, the Bluebirds can now concentrate on each individual match without the pressure of having to pick up points for safety.
Victory over Luton has now moved Barrow up two places to ninth in the league, just four points off the play off positions.
With three tough away games in three days, Barrow would have to get points from every game at the very least to stand a chance at making the play offs. Barrow are the rank outsiders to make the play off positions, but credit must be given for their efforts in the campaign.
This season has clearly been their best in four campaigns in the conference. They have almost guaranteed safety from relegation, had some fantastic performances against big teams and are look likely to finish in a strong mid-table position.
The Furness Fortress
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| The Furness Building Society Stadium |
The 2011/2012 season will be remembered for Barrow’s impressive home record. With barely a loss at Holker Street, Barrow have been able to rack up points consistently at home.
By beating the top three teams at home this season, it shows that the Bluebirds have feared nobody and deserve to be in the table where they are today.
By beating the top three teams at home this season, it shows that the Bluebirds have feared nobody and deserve to be in the table where they are today.
It seems that the long journey up the A590, the windy conditions and the playing surface at Holker Street seem to deter teams every time they come up to play Barrow.
It just shows that with only one striker able to play at the moment a budget well below the spending of the Conferences’ big boys, Barrow have done remarkably well and been a huge surprise package this season.
Their almost flawless home record will be tested on Saturday when they face Forest Green Rovers at the Furness Building Society Stadium.
Barrow: Pearson Smith Skelton Bolland (Capt) Hone Baker Owen Harvey Mackreth Turner (Rutherford 67) Cook
Subs Not Used: Cairns Nicholas Ferrell Moyo
Luton Town: Tyler Taylor Keane Pilkington (Capt) Lawless McAllister (Kissock 79) Fleetwood O'Connor Howells Boucard (Watkins 63) Kovacs
Contact the author: ascarisbrick@uclan.ac.uk
Contact the author: ascarisbrick@uclan.ac.uk
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