PAUL Cox is happy to have the gritty Paddy Lacey back in the Barrow AFC engine room.

The 22-year-old midfielder returned to action after four months without a start in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to National League leaders Cheltenham Town.

Injury problems had kept him sidelined for the entirety of Cox’s time in charge, until a change in formation brought him the chance to start against the Robins.

Cox was wary of bringing Lacey back into the fold too quickly after his knee issues – having seen Neil Ashton struggle during a short-lived return following surgery on his leg.

But he was pleased with what he saw from the determined central player, and said: “Paddy did well. I was a bit worried with his injury, because you don’t want to rush anybody back. We rushed Ash back, to be honest, and I think that had an adverse effect on Ash and you look at Paddy and you worry he could have been back too early as well.

“But he made the tackle on about 37 minutes that probably turned the tide of the game. He was competitive and that’s Paddy for you.

“It’s about managing him now, managing his legs. We know what he gives us.”

When asked about the role Lacey plays, Cox pointed to the Cheltenham midfield partnership of Kyle Storer and Asa Hall, who both featured against Barrow last weekend.

He sees them as a model for what a holding midfielder can do – not pushing too far forward and controlling the game around them.

That is a similar role to which he wants to employ Lacey, and Cox said: “You look at the two central midfielders for Cheltenham, who have been stalwarts all season for them.

“Storer, who I have known since his Kidderminster days, they brought Pell on and then you’ve got Asa Hall. You’re talking about lads who, and I’m not being disrespectful to them, are not technically gifted ball players.

“Storer never came out of the middle of the park against us. At times, I watched him and he was excellent in everything he did, in terms of he bossed the field, never lost his shape, never got pulled out and his game management, his understanding of what they were about was excellent.

“We need to learn from looking at that Cheltenham side and the little things they were better at than us on Saturday. It was game management, their understanding, their willingness to grind out a result and their willingness to go to the final whistle.

“There wasn’t a massive gap after half-an-hour, but the little things have cost us a point. It’s those little things that we have to tidy up if we are going to go forward.”