PAUL Cox was pleased to see his Barrow AFC side reach the last 16 of the FA Trophy after a battling win over Matlock Town.

The Bluebirds came from two goals down to triumph 3-2 thanks to a spell of three goals in 10 second-half minutes.

Richie Bennett scored a brace and Danny Livesey headed home the winner as AFC broke a three-game losing streak thanks to their late spurt.

Cox recognised his side had not been at their best for the first hour, but felt they could have eventually won by more after they found their feet.

“We started playing with a little bit of tempo, a little bit of purpose, a little bit of the old us, with about 25 minutes to go,” he said. “In that time, we scored three and could have had five or six – we missed two of the best chances of the game late on.

“You always have to give teams respect. I get along with Hoppo and Kirkby (Town managers Craig Hopkins and Glenn Kirkwood) really well and I think they have done a fantastic job at Matlock. They’ve gone away to Solihull, beat them, they beat Halifax (the defending champins), so a tremendous amount of credit has to be given to them two, both of them have done a fantastic job.

“It has taken us two-thirds of the game before we started to play how we can, with tempo, power, putting the ball in good areas and capitalising on the chances we had.

“Was it harder than I thought? No, I expected a tough game, but I would have liked to see the real us for 90 minutes.”