PAUL Cox was left frustrated once more as a lack of cutting edge in attack saw his Barrow AFC side held to another home stalemate.

Sutton United became the latest side to stop the Bluebirds scoring in the National League – in doing so, claiming their first away clean sheet at this level since 1990 – following Guiseley and Torquay.

There were opportunities for Barrow, with Richie Bennett, Ross Hannah, Liam Hughes and Moussa Diarra all going close in the first half, but nothing that suggested there were about to end their run of 314 minutes without a league goal.

Added to that, Barrow saw Bennett and Hughes both pick up their 10th bookings of the season – meaning they will serve two-match bans – and captain Danny Livesey (concussion) and his centre-half replacement Matty Platt (knee) both suffered injuries.

The failure to convert opportunities was not lost on Cox, who said: “It was frustrating. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a game where our goalkeeper has had so little to do. I think Flatty has caught a cold. I can’t think of him having to do anything through the 90 minutes – not one shot.

“At the other end, there was a game-plan for today. We started with Ross and Benno and there was an understanding about freshening it up up-top, especially after the first 45 minutes, when I thought we could have been more dynamic. But then we lose the captain and we lose Platty, so it was back to the drawing board.

“It’s one of those things. It’s a point, but we’ve talked to the players about some of the teams who are going to come here now and who will not have a real interest in trying to score. We’ve got to be braver, we’ve got to be cuter, we’ve got to be more dynamic in the last third.

“It’s frustrating, because I thought Ross Hannah was doing really well. He was going to stay on the pitch, Inih (Effiong) and Shaun Tuton were going to come on, but then we had to make a decision. I thought Ross was doing really well, but he came off because of our lack of height. We had a midfielder playing at centre-half and not a lot of height in the side.

“It’s a point. We’ve huffed and puffed in the final third, and that’s where we really need to reignite ourselves.”

He added: “We want three points from all the games. Performance-wise, in two-thirds of the pitch, we never looked in any doubt, even when the skipper has gone off. But you need to take your chances.

“We’ve had opportunities, especially in the first half, where we got into good positions, but at the minute, things are being cleared off the line, people are getting their foot in where before we were a little bit sharper to the ball and didn’t allow people to do that.

“It is what it is. It’s not something to mope about, it’s not something to moan about. We have to dust ourselves down and go again. The big problem is we’ve got two now who have reached 10 bookings and we lost two people through injury today. It might be a case of me getting my boots on for Tuesday night (when Barrow face Tranmere a Holker Street).”