BARROW AFC 1 (Gomis 51) NOTTINGHAM FOREST U23s 1 (Smith 19)
With the last of the home pre-season matches now over and done with, the majority of Bluebirds fans will have seen all they will see of the team before the real action begins in less than two weeks.
They watched only 10 of the contracted players take on a talented, physical young Nottingham Forest side – with Byron Harrison having undergone surgery, Dan Cockerline being nursed back to health, Liam Hughes ill, Thierry Audel having picked up a knock to his heel and Richie Bennett rested.
Of those 10, Dan Jones – who bounced back quickly from a dead-leg injury sustained against Crewe Alexandra four days earlier – impressed with his dangerous throws, sure to test just about any side in the National League, and his ability both to get forward and track back from his wing-back role.
Goalkeeper Stuart Moore produced another assured display – with one top-drawer save – while Moussa Diarra was strong at the back and showed a neat touch with the ball at his feet to go with the usual aerial dominance.
Asa Hall and Bedsenté Gomis had flashes of the class which has brought them to Holker Street as well – the latter netting his first goal for his new club with a towering header from a cross delivered by the former.
There are still issues to address – not least the size of the contracted squad – but there are positive signs if they can be addressed.
In the first half, Barrow failed to produce their best, with Forest looking good when they had the ball and the opening quarter-hour producing nothing of real substance.
The first chance went the way of the visitors – who included former Bluebird Ryan Yates as their captain, as well as Gerry McDonagh, a forward who caught Cox’s eye last season – when Aaron Smith hit a 20-yard free-kick from the right above the wall, and Moore stretched up to tip it over the bar. Moore could not stop the opening goal a few minutes later, as Yates dispossessed Hall on the edge of the Forest area and found Virgil Gomis on the right. He controlled and slid the ball through for the run of Smith, who accelerated into the area and fired past the AFC keeper into the far bottom corner.
Jones’s throws were starting to prove a menace, and Alex Iacovitti flicked one on towards his own goal, where the ball was scrambled clear off the line.
Jordan White headed a Hall free-kick to the far post wide of the target, but there was no clear-cut chance of an equaliser before the break.
Afterwards, White flicked a Jones free-kick from halfway beyond he far post, and a Jones ball caused all kinds of trouble as Jimmy Dunne flicked it behind with his boot but at keeper Jordan Wright.
Good work by Diarra in midfield to win the ball, run forward, exchange passes and play in a key ball set up the trialist full-back for another chance, but the shot was blocked.
The equaliser came on 51 minutes as Diarra played a long ball from his own half down the left, and Harry Panayoitou controlled well.
He played inside to the feet of Hall, whose vision allowed him to cross left-footed on to the head of Gomis, his effort directed perfectly into the far corner.
Barrow looked the only side likely to go on and win it, with Diarra and Panayiotou having shots blocked, and Dunne heading over from a corner.
White rose well to meet a Gomis cross but put it over the bar and right at the death Dunne flicked on a Jones throw-in among a crowd at the near post and saw it hit the foot of the woodwork at the back stick.
Promising signs, then, with three more games to go before the real action starts when the National League season begins with a trip to Dagenham and Redbridge.
Stuart Moore, Trialist, Dan Jones, Trialist, Jimmy Dunne, Moussa Diarra, Bedsenté Gomis, Alex-Ray Harvey Jordan White, Harry Panayiotou, Asa Hall.
Substitutes: David Fitzpatrick, Bradley Bauress, Liam Hughes, Thierry Audel, Richie Bennett, plus three trialists.
Liam Bossin, Jordan Gabriel, Adam Crookes, Joe Coveney, Alex Iacovitti, Ryan Yates, Aaron Smith, Elvis Otim, Gerry McDonagh, Virgil Gomis, Yassine En-Neyah.
Substitutes: Jake Taylor, Jordan Wright, Kieran Hayes, Choz Charlesworth, Danny Preston.
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