Last updated 12:54, Saturday, 11 October 2008

NEW FACE: David Brown in action against Burton JON GRANGER REF:0453456

THIS week has just shown how much football can change, last week we were on the back of a four-game losing streak.

Then we go away last Saturday to second in the league Kidderminster and win and then we take a point off a very strong Burton team at home on Tuesday night.

Away last Saturday, Darren and Dave changed the formation to a 3-5-2 and introduced a new striker David Brown, who we welcome to the club.

This is always a gamble as we are playing in a predominantly professional league and changing formation for one of the professional clubs is relatively risk free as they can work on the formation for days in advance.

As for us, we had 20 minutes at the back end of training on Thursday to walk the team through what was required. This shows the level of understanding and commitment both Darren and Dave have in their team.

This change could have gone horribly wrong especially against a side like Kidderminster. As it was, from the kick off, we saw a change in what we’d seen for the past three or four weeks, the belief and drive was back in the side and when Mark Boyd scored an early free-kick you could see our lads lift to the challenge.

Our fans were again fantastic, non-stop singing from the first minute and that was after we’d passed them singing and waving their flags on the side of the road after breaking down just outside Kidderminster.

They made the game in taxis, buses and any other form of transport to ensure they did not miss a second, they are an absolute credit to the club and the town, a massive thanks again from all at the club.

As the game went on, Kidderminster continued to push but we held out for all three points which were deserved and vital as all the teams around us in the league also picked up points.

Tuesday night at Holker Street saw Nigel Clough and his Burton team come to town, the weather was terrible but again you showed what this club was all about.

With all the negativity over the past couple of weeks about the gate dropping, just under 1,500 turned out to cheer the lads and I’m sure even going home very wet, that everyone went home happy.

Nil-nil may not sound like a great result on paper but Burton are a very good side and it was more about how the point was won.

Like Saturday, we battled from start to finish, at times they showed their qualities but, in the second half, we could have taken all three points and for me what typified the Barrow team were the goal-line clearances. It’s that never-say-die attitude that I’m sure is going to make this another special season.

Just to prove there is no respite in this league we’ve just played against the two of the top three teams and now this weekend we travel down to top of the table Crawley.

It’s a bit like last week, we go there as underdogs but we go there also with belief. We fear no-one and if we play like we have over the last two games then there is no reason we cannot come away with something.

Then on Tuesday night, it’s back to Holker Street for the first cup game of the season when we play Fleetwood in the Setanta Shield. Fleetwood will be well up for the game and it’s a competition that we really want to stay in, it’s good both for the form and, financially, as there is prize money involved in every round. So, please I know sometimes these are the games that some people don’t see as interesting but they are games that are vital to the club and as always your support is invaluable.

Then next Saturday we see one of the other newly-promoted sides Eastbourne travel to Holker Street. It’s a big game for us from an overall league picture, they will fancy taking something from us but it’s vital that we get something from the game.

Off the field, work was carried out on the floodlights on Monday, we were able to make sure that all the new lights were working on the floodlights near the Crossbar and the Lux test we have to do for the league has passed the required level.

We’ve also been carrying out some rewiring under the stand which has enabled us to get power into the turnstiles, a job that has been well overdue, and from this work, we will be putting power back in the house on the hill.

A lot of work has been created because there has been a lot of temporary work or work done as favours over the years and this at the time as may be required and done in good faith.

However, with today’s tight health and safety requirements, we need to make sure that anything at the club is done to the required regulations for the safety of every employee and everyone who visits the club.

We are now awaiting feedback from the planning department as the plans went in a couple of weeks ago for the new entrance. Hopefully everything will be ok and we can start to plan the start of the work in the near future. We will be displaying the plans over the coming weeks so everyone can see the proposed changes.

Back to today and let’s hope we can put another great display on and bring something back from what’s going to be a very hard game.

And then let’s make Tuesday night a big night at Holker Street as we start this year’s cup campaigns.

See you Tuesday.

TONY KEEN