PAUL Cox praised his bare bones Barrow AFC squad for taking an unprecedented point at Dover – but admitted they felt three were there for the taking.

The Bluebirds fought out a 1-1 draw with their hosts at the Crabble – Jordan White’s goal cancelled out by Ryan Bird 18 minutes from time.

Despite only being able to name four substitutes – including reserve keeper Sam Ramsbottom – Barrow had by far the better chances to go on and win the game, with Dan Cockerline and Bedsente Gomis both presented with gilt-edged opportunities late in the match.

There were unable to take them, and Cox admitted that took some of the shine off Barrow’s first-ever National League point at Dover – and a first positive result of any kind since the FA Trophy quarter-final draw in 1998.

“Before the game, especially with the distance travelled etc, you would have accepted a point,” said Cox. “But the boys are probably a little bit disappointed that we didn’t take all three – especially with the late chances we had.

“You always know it’s going to be a tough game, you always know what you’re in for when you come down here, so a point is good for us.

“When you look at it coming into the game, we had 13 fit outfield players – we couldn’t even fill the bench. You come to a place like this – Chris has got them well-drilled, it’s always a hard place to come, and somebody was telling me it’s the first point we have had here for a number of years.

“It’s a learning curve for us, we’ve got a lot of young players, a lot of new players, but they are superb, they’re working really, really hard and showing a great appetite for the game.

“What we need now is to have some of the players we have injured back, just to give the ones who are working hard that little bit of help.

“We’re okay with a point, and we will dust ourselves down now to go into what is going to be a really tough weekend.”

Asked if he was seeing the improvement he was looking for over the past few games, Cox added: “It can only be that way. We’re in mid-August, and if you can’t fill a bench – for whatever reason – it needs improving.

“We’ve got some good players who are injured, and we’ve got one or two players who have come to us very late in pre-season, and they played catch-up.

“As we progress, I think we will see a little bit more consistency with performances and consistency with results.

Cox refused to be drawn into questions over whether there would be further players brought in before the transfer window closes at the end of the month.

When Paul Ogden was appointed as head of football operations after the opening game against Dagenham – with the stated aim of heading up recruitment – the Barrow boss had spoken of a desire to add anything up to four players to the squad.

There have been no transfers since then, and owner Paul Casson was heard to say during his recent visit from America that he did not foresee that changing.

But asked if he hoped there would be incomings given the face he only had 13 outfield players available at Dover, Cox said: “I really don’t know. You look at us and we couldn’t fill the bench. What I want to do is have a look at the players we have who are injured, assess them and when they are going to come back. We really can’t afford to lose any more – it’s got to where we couldn’t fill a bench.

“The players who have gone out there today have been superb, they have worked really hard when things have gone against them, and have shown true character to get a point at a very tough place.”