Match Report

Barrow had been very unlucky to be beaten at Moss Lane earlier this season, as well as in last year's encounter at a very wet Holker Street. Torrential rain once again welcomed the Altrincham fans to Barrow but it stopped before kick-off and held off for the game itself, which was played for the most part in bright sunshine. A strong wind blew down the pitch, behind Altrincham in the first half and against them in the second period. The pitch was understandably soft but quite playable.

Altrincham were robbed by a very late goal of a three-point reward for their impressive performance with ten men for 51 minutes of this game. Rod Thornley put Alty ahead after 7 minutes when Furlong's shot came down off the bar for him to head home from close range. Having got himself booked for kicking the ball at goal well after the referee had blown his whistle for a free-kick (14 mins), Furlong then head-butted Warren after being fouled by the Barrow man.

The volatile Alty striker was shown a wholly deserved red card (39 mins). Hume was gifted an equaliser for Barrow after Coburn failed to reach a cross (68 mins) before a superb breakaway goal from Craney restored Alty's lead (74 mins). Coburn then seemed to misread Maddox's intentions and Hume was allowed in for another very soft goal, just three minutes from the final whistle. This was an excellent performance from Altrincham, with one notable exception.

Altrincham had the same starting line-up as in their last league game but, on the bench, Dave Swanick and Barry Guildford gave way to Jason Gallagher (returning from a hernia operation) and Danny Murphy (awaiting a hernia operation). Before the match it had been reported that Hulme, Sertori and Thornley were all doubtful, but they all played. Barrow were without their suspended leading scorer, Grant Holt, and Wayne Bullimore was only fit enough to start on the bench.

Altrincham started brightly against a surprisingly defensive Barrow formation of 5-3-2. After just two minutes, nice work by Craney set Furlong running at goal and he was tripped on the front edge of the penalty area to earn a free-kick. Unfortunately, Ryan put the dead-ball kick wide. Barrow's best early effort was a long-range shot from Shaw which Coburn had well-covered as he watched it pass his left upright (5 mins). Then, after build-up work from Hulme and Craney, a weak header from Warren allowed Furlong to get in a shot from about 12 yards, which crashed off the underside of the crossbar. Thornley reacted quickly and dived forward to head the ball into the left-side of goal from close range (7 mins). From the restart Barrow soon won a corner on the left, off Paul Taylor. The ball eventually came to McGuckin at the back post and his studied header only just cleared the intersection of cross-bar and Coburn's right upright (8 mins).

Furlong then had his first run-in with the referee, getting a lecture for a two-footed tackle before Anthony took revenge by felling the Alty striker, to concede a free-kick. Things then got a little heated as Taylor slid in to win the ball on the Alty left inside the Barrow half, but was adjudged to have taken the Barrow man as well as the ball. Taylor was booked after initially ignoring the ref's call for him (12 mins). There was soon more controversy as a neat Alty move involving Craney, Ryan, Thornley, Scott and Hulme led to Furlong getting free, but he was just offside. Carl then stupidly shot for goal well after he had heard and reacted to the whistle and the predictable booking followed. This was not the first time Carl had been booked in such circumstances this season (14 mins). The partisan Barrow crowd was now animated by the goings-on on the pitch.

Normal football was restored with a fine strike by Ryan from 25 yards which Bishop only held, low down, at the second attempt (15 mins). Altrincham continued to enjoy the better of the game before Furlong was again in trouble, conceding a free-kick for hand-ball in centre-field. Another flowing, passing move by Alty ended with Hawes seemingly being tripped but the ref allowed play to continue (21 mins). The soft pitch was now cutting up as Barrow began to get belatedly into the game, with right wing-back Simon Shaw particularly impressive. However, Barrow were reduced to long range efforts at the Alty goal, such as Gaughan's shot over the bar from 25 yards (24 mins). Shaw and Ellison combined well again soon after but the ball ran back to Coburn.

A fine tackle by Maddox conceded a corner to Barrow on their right (28 mins) before Gaughan put the ball in the net after an off-side whistle and, despite protests from Barrow captain Mark Hume, the referee showed even-handedness by booking Gaughan for the same offence that had brought Furlong his yellow card.

The Barrow defence continued to make unforced errors and more than one pass across the back four ended up in touch. Indeed, the whole Barrow side seemed less impressive than they had at Moss Lane, where they had given the best display by a visiting side this season. One exception was Shaw, who continued to do well as he won a corner on the right from a cross, off Sertori (33 mins). Though Coburn was clearly fouled as he went for the corner-ball, play continued and another corner resulted, this time on the Barrow left. Following this, Coburn had to be alert to rush out to a ball from Anthony and save well at the feet of Peverell. The keeper suffered a head injury in the process, which necessitated lengthy treatment (35 mins).

The sun was now shining brightly behind Coburn's goal as Furlong went down dramatically under a challenge suggesting he had been caught on the head but, as play continued, he got up again (37 mins). Ellison then blasted a long shot well over the bar before the game's major flashpoint occurred. Warren clearly fouled Furlong, just inside the Barrow half on the left touchline. Carl got up and after a moment when he seemed to be reacting calmly, he clearly head-butted Warren right in front of the main stand, the Alty bench and, more importantly, the referee. Mr Wallace had no alternative but to produce his red card. Even then Furlong had not finished for, as he trudged off, he made a run towards a Barrow player and had to be restrained and guided off the pitch by Mark Hume (39 mins). After a discussion with his Assistant, Mr Wallace then showed Warren a yellow card.

After the restart, Peverell squared up to Sertori but received just a verbal warning from the referee, as it was announced that there would be five minutes of added-on time. Despite their one-man disadvantage, Altrincham continued to look comfortable. Indeed, as half-time approached, Thornley got free from a Hulme pass but was fouled on the very edge of the box. However, Craney curled the free-kick wide, to leave Altrincham one-up at half-time and the prospect of 45 minutes battling both a strong wind and a side with an extra man.

Barrow brought on Wayne Bullimore, returning from injury, in place of McGuckin at half time and altered their shape to 4-4-2. Their first effort on goal was a flicked header, well wide, by Ellison (46 mins) but Barrow now began to apply some sustained pressure as the ten-man Robins were forced to defend deeply. Thornley, however, was a danger to Barrow on the break but when he went down under a challenge on a run forward, Hume wagged his finger at him to allege a dive (49 mins). Kevin Hulme was then flattened in the Alty half before Altrincham broke away as Craney intercepted a pass from Gaughan. Thornley picked up Craney's pass but was driven right and only a throw-in resulted. (51 mins). Scott then got past Housham to feed Thornley, who delivered a cross from the right but there was no Alty man in the box to receive it.

Barrow continued to press forward at the other end but their pressure yielded no clear shots at all at Coburn as the Alty defence looked solid. In fact, from Alty's next breakaway they almost doubled their lead. Thornley passed to Hulme and then ran on to a fine return pass. Rod's last touch as he neared the advancing keeper inside the Barrow box was just enough to allow the keeper to get a touch but Rod got past Bishop, only for the ball to get under his feet and only a corner off the retreating Shaw, rather than a goal, resulted (53 mins). Barrow then resumed their pressure with the right-wing presence of Shaw again being heavily used. But, once more, it was the Barrow goal that was almost breached when Hume executed a bizarre back pass, under little pressure, which saw him almost chip his own goalkeeper from 18 yards out. Keeper Bishop reacted quickly to grab the ball before giving his team-mate a dark look (55 mins).

Bullimore was looking impressive in the Barrow midfield but the home side suffered a blow when Peverell appeared to turn his ankle, off the ball, and had to be carried off on a seated hand-lift. His place was taken by Rogers (57 mins). Again Altrincham showed more incision than the hosts when Hulme dispossessed Anthony and fed Thornley. Thornley played a superb ball forward to the advancing Craney who got in a good shot from the right of goal which Bishop did well to beat out for a corner (59 mins). From Ryan's corner, Sertori's header looped to the keeper. Barrow had now pushed their tall captain, Mark Hume, up front, where he soon conceded a goal kick to Altrincham as Barrow still struggled to convert their sustained pressure into openings.

Neil Doherty soon replaced Gaughan (63 mins) before Hulme was felled from behind by Rogers. After a subsequent Paul Taylor free-kick, for a foul on Thornley, had been cleared, Bullimore was twice involved in a move down the Barrow left which culminated in Anthony's cross into the Alty box. Coburn came off his line but did not get the ball in the air and it fell to Hume, unmarked at the back post, to nod home the softest of goals (68 mins). Altrincham showed their spirit, however, as after the re-start Hawes surged out of midfield, whilst around him Hulme, Craney and Ryan all applied themselves well. Thornley won a free-kick as Altrincham responded to the equaliser by going looking for a second goal after absorbing a lot of Barrow pressure in the early stages of the second half.

Barrow's best effort came when Bullimore played a ball towards the box which Coburn alertly cleared, feet first, on the edge of his area (72 mins). Kevin Hulme, who had been limping for a while, now gave way to a less than fully-fit Danny Murphy (72 mins). Almost immediately Altrincham took the lead again. Following an Alty throw-in, Scott fed Craney who in turn set Hawes surging forward up centre-field. He returned the ball superbly to Craney who, despite the goalkeeper's challenge, found the net, off defender Maxfield, to restore Alty's lead (74 mins).

A no-nonsense hoof into the crowd behind his goal from Sertori saw off the next Barrow attack but from the resulting corner Coburn missed the ball and Hume, at the back post, was narrowly wide with his point-blank header (77 mins). In a surprising move the very impressive Thornley was replaced by Poland (78 mins). Before the game it had been rumoured that Thornley had a leg injury but his display today showed no signs of it. Having to play single-handedly up-front following Furlong's dismissal, Rod had perhaps just run himself into the ground.

Barrow fans surprisingly started to leave the ground, though ten minutes remained to be played, but their side continued to press. However, their crosses continued to be poor as they failed to cope with the strong wind behind them throughout the second half. Paul Taylor relieved the Barrow siege of his team's goal with a fine tackle to concede a corner on the right, which Coburn caught well in the air (83 mins). Another excellent surging run by Hawes, from a Murphy feed, led to a cross from Scott which the keeper held as Poland arrived. A masterful back-header from Sertori to Coburn underlined Alty's apparent safety at this stage (85 mins). Then, Jason Gallagher came on for Paul Taylor; Jason slotted in at right-back for his first league appearance since appearing as a substitute at Accrington in October (86 mins).

A fairly routine aerial ball into the Alty box seemed to be no threat until Coburn apparently mis-read Maddox's intentions and the ball fell to Shaw at the back post who found Hume unmarked for his second soft, close-range headed goal of the match (87 mins). Immediately three minutes of stoppage time were announced but Barrow were unable to snatch victory in that time and it would have been very harsh on Altrincham had they done so.

Altrincham played well from start to finish. Apart from Thornley's excellent performance up front, the midfield were also in good form with Hawes setting a captain's example to which Craney, Hulme and Ryan responded. The back-four also did well, except for the two defensive lapses, which gifted Barrow both of their goals and robbed them of a deserved win. The loss of Furlong meant that Alty had to absorb a lot of second half pressure and play on the break, which they did excellently. Sadly, Furlong's repeated indiscipline is a problem which the Alty management must address. In his two spells at the club he has started 25 games (+11 as sub) and received 10 yellow cards and 2 reds; to increasing numbers of supporters his attacking qualities are outweighed by his lack of self-control.