VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE

BARROW AFC 0 GATESHEAD 0

BARROW AFC’s biggest home crowd of the season were left with little festive cheer after a dour afternoon on the Holker Street terraces.

All 2,123 of them saw many of the elements of Christmas – a turkey, arguments and disagreements, bad wind – but not the cracker they were hoping for.

Barrow manager Paul Cox was given a new jigsaw under his tree, with only 14 players fully fit and available, and a choice to make as to who played where.

What the AFC boss wants from his chairman is a number of new faces in January – no club with realistic National League title ambitions can cope with a squad of only 17 men – including the suspended Jordan Williams and injured subs Myles Anderson and Andy Haworth.

Those 11 who started and played the full 90 minutes, including goalkeeper Andy Coughlin, winger Lindon Meikle and midfielder Akil Wright, battled hard in the gales which whipped across the field, but were unable to master the conditions. It was not a classic from either team.

The dominant factor in play throughout the afternoon was the wind, blowing in strongly from the Crossbar End, as the remnants of Storm Barbara battered Furness.

Play from that end of the pitch was littered with over-hit balls going beyond their intended targets, while goal-kicks from the other struggled to come close to halfway, some caught in the gusts and looping up and back on themselves.

Barrow had the wind behind them for the first 45 minutes and, while Coughlin – in goal after Tim Erlandsson’s loan from Nottingham Forest was ended and he went back to homeland Sweden – did well to weight his through balls, others did less so.

Meikle – in for the suspended Williams and so often AFC’s best attacking threat on the afternoon – scooped an early shot over the bar, Shaun Beeley cleared a Gus Mafuta cross from the line and Sam Jones headed over, while Wright used the wind to shoot wide from 25 yards after a Meikle lay-off.

A long Coughlin clearance led to Byron Harrison, Liam Hughes and Richie Bennett combining, with the latter eventually having the chance to shoot, but doing so weakly at Dan Hanford.

The best chance of the first quarter of the game fell to Alex-Ray Harvey after a Shaun Beeley throw was misplaced behind him. That forced the central midfielder – playing alongside Akil Wright in the absence of Ryan Yates, who has returned to Nottingham Forest through injury – to chase the ball to the edge of the area and shoot from the right, with his curling effort going just past the far post.

Hughes headed a Beeley cross over the bar and Harrison was played in down the right, pulling the ball back to Meikle, whose cross-cum-shot evaded an offside Bennett and was wide of the far post.

Another well-placed Coughlin clearance set Meikle into space in the area, but his shot was saved, before a corner from the same man caught in the wind and hit the bar.

Mafuta had a rare first-half chance for the Heed as his 18-yard effort deflected off Hughes and dipped just over Coughlin and the bar.

Danny Livesey had the final effort of the opening 45 minutes, shooting meekly at Hanford. If there was anything worthy of being called a real chance in the second half, then it went unnoticed.

Moussa Diarra – whose defensive heading was sorely tested throughout in the wind – saw a half-volley fly straight at Hanford early on, and Coughlin learnt quickly the importance of launching good kicks into the wind as one came back at him through a Head attack, with Jones forcing a save low down at the near post.

Barrow were left to attack on the break – though what they were breaking from was a visiting side with as few ideas of how to play in this direction as they had going the other way.

Harvey shot wide after Meikle set one quick attack up from inside his own half – the winger, Harrison and Bennett all looking better placed to have a go.

Neither Wright nor Harrison could properly control on the edge of the area from a subsequent break, and there was nothing else after that.

Gateshead saved a rare chance for last, with Danny Johnson shooting over the bar with a free-kick from 20 yards. By that point, many had gone home to enjoy a Boxing Day turkey they expected – rather than this one they had not.

Barrow AFC (4-4-2): Andy Coughlin 7, Shaun Beeley 7, Nick Anderton 7, Danny Livesey 7, Moussa Diarra 7, Liam Hughes 6, Alex-Ray Harvey 6, Akil Wright 6, Richie Bennett 6, Byron Harrison 6, Lindon Meikle 7. Substitutes Not Used: Andy Haworth, Ross Hannah, Harry Panayiotou, Euan Murray, Myles Anderson.

Yellow Cards: Hughes (73), Livesey (88).

Gateshead (4-4-1-1): Dan Hanford, James Bolton, Jamal Fyfield, Manny Smith, Liam Hogan, Russel Penn (Toby Ajala 65), Gus Mafuta, Luke Hannant (Danny Johnson 67), Paddy McClaughlin, Sam Jones (George Smith 79), Jordan Burrow. Substitutes Not Used: Sam Johnson, Wes Atkinson.

Yellow Cards: Fyfield (46).

Referee: Tom Bramall (Sheffield).

Attendance: 2,123.

Next Game: Gateshead v Barrow, Saturday, 3pm.

STAR MAN - Lindon Meikle - The winger was lively, dangerous and productive, a rare spark on a dull afternoon. Deserves to retain his spot even upon the return of Jordan Williams.