Stephen Clemence was delighted with Barrow’s multifaceted performance to beat Grimsby 2-1 and continue their strong start to the Sky Bet League Two campaign.
Sam Foley and Theo Vassell headed in from corners in the first half, before the Mariners responded with a goal just before half-time through Kieran Green. The Bluebirds held on for the three points as Grimsby pushed for an equaliser in the second half.
Clemence felt his team should have been further ahead at the break but was impressed with the resilience they showed in the end.
He said: “I’m really pleased with them, I thought we played really well in the first half and were the dominant team with the only criticism being that we didn’t score more goals with the amount of times we broke forward.
“There were times where we could have capitalised and scored more from open play, but it was nice to score two from set-pieces with both being good finishes.
“We had to work hard in the second half – this is a difficult place to come as the away team and the boys had to show a different side of their game.
“It was a solid performance and they stood firm, Wyll Stanway coming in for his first league game in goal and looking like he had been there for years. We talked to the team (at half-time) about why we had let them back into the game, and we didn’t want to go deep, we wanted to go and score again, which we almost did.”
It was different emotions for Grimsby boss David Artell, who felt his side were not at the races in the first half.
He said: “We weren’t our usual selves, we were insipid and off the pace against a good team who are hard to beat and break down, so when you give them two goals that were exactly the same and play as we did then we are going to have a mountain to climb, whoever it is.
“I can’t explain (the performance) we’ve had a free week to prepare for the game but we’ve also got to remember that we’re talking about League Two footballers, so they’re going to be inconsistent at times.
“However, we demand that they run around and are competitive no matter what, which they weren’t for the first 45 minutes.
“We got a lifeline just before half-time and we were much more competitive in the second half and could have got something out of the game.
“The truth is that we didn’t play for 45 minutes, so we certainly helped them (Barrow) with their game plan because we didn’t entice their press and allowed free headers in our box.”
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