PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY RESULT

BARROW AFC 0 NOTTINGHAM FOREST UNDER-21s 0

The sun shone, the new faces made their first appearance and very little else of note happened – pre-season in all its glory arrived at Holker Street on Saturday.

Paul Cox took the chance to show off his summer shopping purchases – only Lindon Meikle, who aggravated a slight calf problem in training in midweek missed out – and try out a pair of triallists.

Nottingham Forest’s under-21s were steady enough opponents, though they offered only the rare threat of a goal, but this was more of an exercise in preparing for the National League campaign to come for the Bluebirds and it showed.

The pace rarely rose above pedestrian, with as many misplaced passes as there were successful one, as many poorly timed tackles as there were perfectly-executed challenges.

Barrow created the majority of the chances and Ross Hannah and Richie Bennett combining well up front while they were on the field and showing the potential for a strong strike partnership. Bennett’s height allows Hannah to make runs for the second ball, with Liam Hughes offering a similar outlet for the former Chester hotshot when he moved into attacking positions.

They all had good supply lines, with Jordan Williams as lively as anyone out wide and Paul Turnbull a calm head who chose his passes well and brought composure to the centre of the park.

Williams had the first effort, firing across goal from the left of the area and seeing Bennett just unable to make contact as the ball flashed in front of him at the far post.

Hannah then played a long ball from inside his own half aimed at Bennett, who showed impressive strength and pace to get passed the defence and controlled possession before firing in an effort over the bar.

The game had a little edge at times – usually when Forest forward James Thorne was involved, as he clashed with Danny Livesey on the sidelines and later took out Joel Dixon after the keeper had collected the ball high near the 18-yard line. Referee Nigel Miller could have chosen to show a card or ask for him to be substituted, but neither happened and both Hughes and Livesey would have occasional words in the youngster’s direction.

The game played out in a set pattern of AFC attacking and Forest preventing them finding the final killer ball, with play never once in the Bluebirds’ area for the whole of the first half.

Dixon’s diagonal long balls out wide to Williams and, mainly, Hughes, became an obvious mode of putting the hosts on the front foot as they rose above their markers and headed inside, while full-backs Shaun Beeley and triallist Euan Murray were both impressive in taking play forward and covering any moves down their flanks.

Hannah had a worrying moment before half-time as he went down stretching for the ball in the area, but after limping off with physio Sean Riley he returned to the fray and all was well.

He was soon in the thick of it again as Hughes played him through into the area and he was pulled down by Matthew Hall for a stonewall penalty, only neither the referee nor linesman saw it and play went on.

Dixon was called into action for the only time in the match at the start of the second half as he dived low to save from Thorne at the foot of his right-hand post after the front man was given space on the edge of the area. It was one of the few times all match that the Barrow defence looked anything other than solid, with triallist Will De Havilland impressive alongside Livesey at the heart of the back four.

Hughes headed a Beeley cross wide and substitute Elliot Newby showed sparkling footwork to carve an opening on the left of the area which was perfectly placed for Hughes, but he put it wide as well.

Emile Sinclair, on as a substitute and trialling for the third match in a row, provided a new threat up front and put a Beeley cross over the bar before speeding past Hall and being brought down to earn a free-kick which Williams swung in and Sinclair himself was close to reaching before the defence cleared.

Toby Edser rounded the action off as he fired off target from range for Forest, with the final whistle ending a worthwhile exercise if not a match of startling quality.

Cox will have been impressed with both Murray and De Havilland at the back. The former has played in all three of the full pre-season matches so far and offers needed versatility across the back, while the latter is only young but looked assured in his role.

Sinclair was lively in attack to complete the triallist trio – goalkeeper Andy Coughlin was unused – while the already contracted men all showed enough to demonstrate why the AFC manager has brought them in.

Barrow AFC: Joel Dixon, Shaun Beeley, Euan Murray, Alex-Ray Harvey, Danny Livesey (Moussa Diarra 63), Will De Havilland (Andy Parry 78), Liam Hughes (Neil Mellor 82), Paul Turnbull (Elliot Newby 72), Richie Bennett (andy Haworth 72), Ross Hannah (Emile Sinclair 63), Jordan Williams.

Nottingham Forest: Tim Erlandsson, Elvis Otim (Jake Philips 69), Nanna Owusa, Rob Worrall (Jake Taylor 69), Matthew Hall, Fred Nielson, Aaron Smith (Jo Re 69), Toby Edser, Gerry McDonagh, James Thorne (Ben Brereton 60), Anthony Wright (Kieran Hayes 60).

Substitutes Not Used: Rudi Soloha, Charlie Jemson.

Referee: Nigel Miller.

Attendance: 467.