Darren Moore admitted his Port Vale side were left with a sour taste in their mouth after their 1-0 defeat at home to Barrow.
Vale missed the chance to fire themselves into the automatic League Two promotion places after their third loss of the season to the Bluebirds.
Ben Jackson scored the only goal of the game as Andy Whing’s side made it five straight games without defeat.
But the visitors withstood a second-half onslaught as Moore’s side were thwarted by inspired Barrow goalkeeper Paul Farman and also hit the woodwork three times.
“It was a tough one to take,” admitted Moore. “The boys are disappointed and frustrated really.
“I thought they did enough second half to get an equaliser but the upright kept us out tonight.
“The feeling in the camp with the players is a bit of frustration.
“We had two bites at the free-kick when they scored. We could have done better with the header and then to close the ball down.
“From the way we’ve gone about our business this season it was a soft goal really.
“We felt if we got an early goal in the second half it would be harder for them to hold on, but we couldn’t get that all important goal.
“In hindsight, yes (I’d have started the second half team). After the game finished and you look at the balance, yeah. We need to look at why the first half was so flat.
“We didn’t we get that spark? Why was it such a flat 45 minutes? That’s for me to analyse.
“We have to learn from that. Within the next 72 hours we have another important game and when we wake up in the morning we have to put this one behind us.
“We certainly don’t want a performance like we had in the first half on Saturday.”
Barrow have really turned the corner under Whing, who has restored a resilience in the squad.
They have now gone four away games without losing, their longest run since December 2023, with two of those 2-2 draws from 2-0 behind.
And Whing admitted: “We rode our luck a little bit in the second half but we earned that luck in terms of how hard the lads worked and how well they defended.
“I thought Paul Farman was outstanding in goal.
“Port Vale couldn’t get to grips with our shape first half. We got a lot of joy.
“I think we sat a bit deep in the second half. But the lads dug in and thoroughly deserved what they got in the end.
“I thought we were more under pressure than the Notts County game. They really put it on you.
“I thought the lads stood up to it really well. Everyone to a man was excellent. They defended their absolute socks off.
“We’ve asked them to put their bodies on the line, get their heads on the end of things and they’ve done that in abundance. That’s why we won tonight.”
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