PAUL Cox felt his Barrow AFC side deserved credit for sticking to their task until the very end as they scraped a 3-3 draw at Solihull Moors.

The Bluebirds were 2-0 up and cruising at half-time, before the sending off of Jimmy Dunne turned the game on its head and threatened to condemn them to defeat.

Solihull rallied to lead 3-2 going into the fifth and final minute of injury time, when a foul on Moussa Diarra in the Moors area allowed Harry Panayiotou to stroke home an unlikely equaliser.

Cox was not pleased with the display of referee Chris Pollard – with the sending off of Dunne one of several contentious moments on the night, as well as Barrow’s late penalty.

But he also hailed his players for sticking to their task and gaining just rewards,

“I think there were a lot of key moments in the game, and a lot of people saw those key moments in the game, but unfortunately not the most important person, who should have done,” said Cox.

“But the boys have worked extremely hard to get themselves back into the game, when at one stage we looked dead and buried with 10 men.”

Cox admitted he had thought it would be plain sailing when Dan Jones’ free-kick from near halfway added to Dave Nieskens’ opener to put AFC 2-0 up just after the half-hour mark.

Instead, there was the second-half comeback from the home side, as Barrow failed to adapt to having 10 men, and he felt all three goals conceded could have been avoided.

“When our second went in, I was just thinking to myself ‘if we keep the back door shut, keep our composure, then we can go on and open them up a few more times,” Cox said.

“In the second half, our game-management wasn’t good. It was a learning curve for us, and once again it’s an understanding of how to manage a game, especially when you are down to 10 men. You don’t lose your head, you keep your focus, you keep your shape and you get yourself through that sticky patch.

“All three goals, for me, could have been avoided.

“For the first, it’s our blueprint not to concede that kind of goal. We’ve had a little talk with the players in there about the concentration levels, especially when things aren’t going your way. There will be plenty of times this season when things don’t go our way, and we’ve got to see ourselves through that. Concentration levels have to be key in that.

“But I think the way the boys battled and got themselves back into the game, especially with 10 men, deserves a bit of credit after what could be described as a horrible 30 minutes before that.

“Overall, if you look at the game, based on the first-half performance, it looks like we are going to go on and win the game.

“This game doesn’t feel sorry for anybody, and what we’ve got to do when things go against us is be a little bit more resolute, just play our way through it.

“We were disappointed with the three goals we conceded, but overall, a point away from home is a good point. It’s just that we were so in command of the game at one stage that you thought the three points were likely.”

Cox, who will study the DVD of Dunne’s second off before deciding on whether to appeal against the straight red card, also praised Panayiotou for keeping his cool under pressure right at the death.

He added: “Harry was brave enough to go and take the penalty with 20 seconds to go, and was very cool-headed. I would congratulate him on that.”