PAUL Cox admitted his side needs to start taking more than just one point from matches like Saturday’s, after being held to a goalless draw by Sutton United.

For the second home National League match in succession, Barrow were unable to score and were caught in a stalemate by lower-table opponents.

Just as in the game against Torquay two weeks ago, AFC could not find a way through a resolute defence, despite the likes of Ross Hannah, Richie Bennett and Liam Hughes all having chances.

On a bad afternoon for the Bluebirds – though only Gateshead among their immediate play-off rivals won – they lost Danny Livesey and Matty Platt to injury and saw Bennett and Hughes both pick up yellow cards which see them suspended for tomorrow’s match with Tranmere and the weekend trip to Eastleigh.

Cox recognised his team has not achieved the desired result, leaving them with a record of just two wins from 12 National League matches since the end of November.

“You do need to get points from these games,” said the Barrow manager. “I’m not going to lie. If you’ve got aspirations of winning the championship or getting in and winning the play-offs, then these are the games where, if these sides go to a Lincoln, go to a Tranmere, all of them are more clinical.”

He added: “It was frustrating. We spoke to the lads about clubs coming here – like Torquay and now Sutton – and putting 10 men behind the ball, defending deep against us.

“Sometimes I think you need that little bit of luck. If one had gone in today, then they would have had to open up, they would have had to come at us, and that leaves a little bit of space in and around the pitch, especially behind them.

“Saying that, we’ve kept our shape, we’ve kept out discipline, but in the last-third, our end product – our last pass, our last shot, our sharpness in and around the box – should have probably been a bit better.

“We had chances which bounced – a bit like against Guiseley, a bit like against Torquay – where people get gaol-line clearances against us, where earlier in the season they didn’t get that chance. We were sharper then, we were a bit more dynamic, and we made them pay for it.

“We’ve got to accept it. We’ve got to be a little bit stronger with each other in the final third, and we have to take our chances now and then.

“What we need to do, we came up against a Sutton side today who have had a fantastic FA Cup run, they are nicely placed around mid-table, and they didn’t really come, I don’t think, to win a football match.

“We’ve got to take the game to them a little bit better today. We’ve got to work their goal better than we did.

“Saying that, there was a game-plan today in terms of the two we started up-front. There was going to be a swap-over around half-time to freshen the legs up – to freshen everything up. Then we get the injuries we’ve had and Plan A goes out the window.”

Barrow must wait to see if Livesey is available for tomorrow’s clash with Tranmere after a clash of heads in the first half saw him withdrawn at the break and replaced by Platt, who hurt his knee soon after and was also taken off.

“Everyone who knows Danny, knows that it takes a lot for him to come off,” said Cox. “He wasn’t feeling the best at half-time and we did it just out of precaution.

“We’ve got to wait and see what it is. It’s one of those, especially with the season Danny has had, where you will miss someone of Danny’s calibre.

“Platty, the first injury, I questioned him going on again, because he had a big bubble coming out of his knee. The second one, it was the same kind of injury. We hope he’s okay.

“It looked like a twist for the first one, and a bubble of fluid came up around his knee-cap. He didn’t look good, and we were going to bring him off, but he said he wasn’t feeling any pain and he went back on. The second time, it was more of a twist, and it doesn’t look good. It could be longer-term.”