Barrow secured a fifth straight victory after Dom Telford scored against his former side Crawley Town during a 1-0 win for the Bluebirds.
Barrow won the toss and Tom White kicked off the game for Barrow and it didn’t take long for the Bluebirds to create their first chance of the game. White received the ball in the fourth minute in midfield and played the ball into Telford, who carried the ball up the pitch and took a shot from a long distance but it was straight down the throat of Luca Ashby-Hammond.
Barrow continued their strong start in the 18th minute when Elliott Newby won the ball on halfway after an advantage played by the referee and raced into the box to cut inside on his right foot and let fly, but it whisked wide of the post.
In the 30th minute, Telford received the ball in midfield and played it through to Emile Acquah, who was one-on-one with the Crawley keeper, but his shot blazed over the bar.
One minute later Crawley went straight up the other end and played the ball into the Barrow penalty area and Crawley midfielder Klaidi Lolos took the shot the first time, but his attempt was superbly saved by Paul Farman with his fingertips.
Luca Stephenson received the ball in the 34th minute while out wide on the right, and he played the cut back to James Chester who then crossed into the box, and Newby’s headed attempt fell just wide of the post.
We didn’t have long to wait for the first goal after the break when Robbie Gotts was played in down the left-hand side in the 46th minute and he crossed the ball into the box for Acquah who received the initial cross, but he laid it off for Telford who smashed the ball into the bottom left corner of the net.
Barrow had the next chance of the game 12 minutes later when they were awarded a free kick on the edge of the area. Spence blasted his shot against the wall, but it fell perfectly for Telford inside the area who blasted his shot just over the bar.
Crawley slowly started to build some momentum in the game, and this showed when Adam Campbell received the ball in the 68th minute on the edge of the area and he danced around the Bluebirds penalty area before taking his shot from distance, which went just wide of the post.
After dominating play for the majority of the game, in the 89th minute Ben Whitfield carried the ball down the left-hand side and played it through to Newby who was one-on-one with the Crawley goalkeeper, and he aimed his shot for the bottom right corner, but it was cleared off the line by the Crawley defender.
The final chance of the game came deep into added time when Whitfield once again carried the ball down the left wing and he cut inside the penalty area before blasting another chance towards goal, but after a deflection, it cannoned out off the bar.
Despite a handful of missed chances from the Bluebirds, they did enough to secure their fifth victory in a row which keeps them in sixth place in League Two, only two points off of third place Notts County.
Barrow XI: Farman, Ray, Canavan ©, Spence (Worrall 84’), Newby, White (Foley 84’), Gotts (Campbell 71’), Chester, Stephenson, Telford (Whitfield 79’), Acquah (Proctor 71’).
Words by Dylan Whitbread
