BARROW boss Paul Cox expressed his disappointment after the Bluebirds debut of on-loan Carlisle striker Steven Rigg ended in a quick and painful exit.

After sealing his move to Holker Street last week, the 23-year-old emerged from the substitutes’ bench in the 80th minute of today’s 2-1 home win over Woking.

But just minutes later he was stretchered off after being struck down by injury and he was due to have his ankle x-rayed in hospital tonight.

It is therefore too early to determine what type of damage Rigg has sustained with Cox flagging up the possibility of him suffering ligament damage.

While it is possible that Rigg may have sprained his ankle or sustained only a minor injury it is hoped that his AFC loan spell – which will run until January 2 – will not be cut short.

Cox said: “I think he went over on it and it might be one of those lateral ligament (injuries).

“But it’s not good because we were expecting big things from Riggy.

“It was a flip of a coin which two out of the three (strikers) started today (Cox opted to pair Andy Cook and new loan striker Liam Hearn up top) but there’s a squad to work with and we hope he’s fine, up on his feet and not suffered the damage that it could be.”

Goals from Cook and defender Steve Williams – whose 73rd-minute winner meant Woking’s 48th-minute leveller only offered the visitors consolation – ensured Cox’s first game in charge of the Bluebirds ended in a Barrow victory.

Cox added: “It’s always nice to get off to a good start after only having the boys for two days.

“I was a little bit sort of anxious about whether they had taken a bit of what I had tried to get through to them on board.

“But it was a game where the (windy) conditions played a massive part. But, over both halves, I thought we probably played better.

“We played some of the better stuff in the first half.

“But our second-half performance is something that pleased me a little bit more because of the players’ desire and the way they battled and they stuck to a game-plan to grind a result out in what was a very tough second half.”