Pete Wild remains unbeaten in the Barrow hotseat this pre-season, as Barrow faced their toughest test of the summer so far in the form of Kevin Phillips’ South Shields.
It was the home side that started the stronger, with Paul Farman tipping Michael Woods’ effort over the bar for a corner in the 10th minute.
Barrow soon settled into the game, though, as Myles Boney in the Shields goal had to pull off a spectacular save to deny Richie Bennett converting Robbie Gotts’ cross from close range.
The Bluebirds were awarded a penalty in the 23rd minute, as the referee determined that Dylan Mottley-Henry failed to win the ball in the area.
Josh Kay stood up, sent Boney the wrong way, and rolled in his 5th goal of pre-season to put Barrow in the lead.
Richie Bennett was the victim of a strong challenge, and so Billy Waters came on to replace the ex-Sutton striker.
The Barrow forward might’ve felt unlucky to not add a second goal 10 minutes later, when Gary Liddle put in a last-ditch attempt to prevent the sprinting Kay from getting a shot away on goal.
The Barrow No.11 had another effort in the 40th minute, as his effort whizzed across goal.
Pete Wild’s side doubled their lead in first half injury time, as Barrow’s newest addition, Harrison Neal, rose above the South Shields defence to get a head on Sam Foley’s corner.
There were a couple changes for Barrow at the break, as George Ray replaced Niall Canavan and Patrick Brough made way for a trialist.
Billy Waters came so close to sending The Bluebirds further into the lead on 66 minutes, as he was played through on goal by a fabulous ball from Josh Kay. Myles Boney added to his man of the match performance, as he somehow managed to stop Waters from netting his 2nd of pre-season.
The hosts snatched one back 5 minutes later, though, when Sam Hodgson curled a shot beyond the reach of Paul Farman to cut Barrow’s lead in half.
Robbie Gotts broke into the Shields box in the 84th minute, but the midfielder’s effort was calmly cut out by Alfie Marriott.
Just three minutes later, it all looked to be wrapped up when Jordan Stevens played in an excellent ball to a trialist in a goalscoring position. The trialist couldn’t convert, and the score remained the same until the final whistle.
Full Time: South Shields 1 Barrow 2