MANAGER Paul Cox went over to applaud the travelling Barrow AFC fans who had made the long trip to Dover after Saturday’s 3-1 loss, writes RICHARD HARVEY.

But the reception he got for the gesture from some was far from friendly– it was hostile.

Cox found himself on the receiving end after the Bluebirds crashed to a second consecutive away defeat.

He said: “I’ve just been told that we should be coming away and beating Dover. Look, I’ve been in this game a long time and I know there is a realistic time span on honours, becoming a full-time club, never mind winning promotion.

“I think there needs to be a realism on where we are, who we are and what we want to achieve this season because I thought the performance wasn’t brilliant today.

“I will tell you how I see it – we have only got a squad of 17 players at the minute competing against the likes of Eastleigh’s with 28 or 30 players etc.

“But we need to get real, we need to get real. This isn’t me talking after a defeat – this is me wanting a sense of realism that I’ve come to a football club that has been yo-yoing between Conference North and the Conference for the last so many years.

“We are up against teams, established teams like the Wrexhams and Tranmeres of this world, teams like that, who have got infrastructures, fan base and resources and this who we are competing against.”

He added: “Now there has to be a sense of realism. I understand the performances but we conceded three sloppy goals today but you are going to. We chucked a right-back in on loan, Danny Livesey has come back in after doing nothing for 10 days and those things are going to happen.

“I said when I first come here, it has to be a sense of realism and has to be a belief in a logical order and logical time frame otherwise the whole thing is going to go pear shaped. Stabilisation is first and foremost and then progression.

“We come here today against a side which beat Eastleigh 4-2 away from home the other night, a team who were in the play-offs last year and you know, with a disjointed team and squad. I expected probably a little bit more.

“Our support has been brilliant home and away all season and just because we’ve had a little blip now, it just seems like we lose our minds and so early in the season.

“That’s a frustrating thing for me, frustrating for the supporters as well, but there has to be a sense of realism about the team, about the football club in general and about the ambition and how we want to achieve it.

“People losing their heads after five games, I mean, wow, it’s going to be a long, long, long season.”

But Cox admitted he could understand the frustration from those who vented their disappointment after the final whistle. He said: “A lot travelled a long way and paid a lot of hard earned money to do get here. It’s football, this is the game we are in and it’s a game about opinions. I respect their opinions and I gave them my opinion.

“I am a passionate person and I will always give my view – I am a big enough man to walk up and speak one-on-one with people.

“I accept criticism when we’ve done bad and we’ve done bad now, but in terms of losing your head with five games gone is for me, absolutely ludicrous.”