VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE

BARROW AFC 0 TORQUAY UNITED 0

AFTER the joy of rising into the National League play-off places on Wednesday, came the come-down of dropping out again just three days later.

For all their effort, Barrow AFC could not build on a nine-man draw at Aldershot and the 10-man triumph at Macclesfield as they were held to a frustrating stalemate by relegation-battling Torquay.

Two sides at opposite ends of the table with different goals to fight for, neither wanted to give an inch and they cancelled each other out.

A point will be more valuable for the Gulls, though it did take AFC closer to both Dagenham and Redbridge and Forest Green Rovers – surprisingly beaten by Guiseley and Gateshead respectively.

However, with the Heed, Dover, Aldershot and Macclesfield all winning, the sides below the Bluebirds moved closer, Athletic climbing above Barrow and into the last play-off spot.

The last 15 games certainly have a lot riding on them for every team in the top nine.

For Barrow, a haul of five points from the past three games – with two of them against their promotion rivals – would have been snapped up ahead of the trip to Aldershot last weekend.

However, coming out of the back end, it will be seen as two points fewer than they wanted, with Torquay the kind of side you want to be defeating on home turf if you are to amass the points tally needed to be promoted.

But it was not to be. Instead, the positives of back-to-back clean sheets and making it four games unbeaten must be taken on board ahead of a week where the league takes a backseat to the Lancashire Senior Cup and the FA Trophy.

There were few positives in the attacking sense for the Bluebirds over the 90 minutes, as openings were carved but not exploited, chances created but not taken, even when Ross Hannah and Inih Effiong came on to liven things up and change the pattern of play around.

Jordan Williams had a rare early opening when he shot softly from 20 yards to allow Brendan Moore an easy save low to his left. There was nothing resembling a chance for the following half-hour, with former Bluebird Myles Anderson taking the chance to repeatedly ask Richie Bennett if he could have his shirt after the game. So often did he pull and tug on it, Bennett must have started in a large and ended in XXL. For all that, Anderson did a fine job keeping the Barrow man quiet and frustrated.

Bennett was in the clear and headed well off-target when the offside flag was up, then tried an audacious volley on the turn which was wide by a good 10 yards.

Loanees Jack Thomas and Connor Thomson combined on 36 minutes, with the latter’s shot from inside the area being blocked by the Gulls defence, before the visitors had some openings of their own.

After Moussa Diarra was booked for clumsily bringing down Brett Williams 20 yards out, Courtney Richards floated in a free-kick and Williams looped his header just over the stretched fingers of Jon Flatt and the bar.

Jordan Williams had a 25-yard curling free-kick which was heading for the top corner, before Moore came across and easily plucked it from the air, before Jamie Reid took the ball as he was falling away in the area and shot at the near post, where Flatt turned it behind.

The corner came in and Aman Verna met it with a powerful header at the near post that went down the players’ tunnel.

AFC started with more life in the second half, Thomas with a good effort that dipped too late from 20 yards and Jordan Williams almost clearing the Crossbar as well as the crossbar with a shot from a similar position.

The Gulls threatened on the break and a Dan Sparkes cross from the left was set to cause all kinds of problems before Diarra ran back and superbly headed low into the hands of Flatt. Anywhere else and it was a goal, and Brett Williams was lurking behind him to poke home if he had done nothing. It was top-class defending and luckilythe knock he took in doing it was not too serious.

A fast Barrow break set off by full-back Luke Burke led to Shaun Tuton’s cross from the right being half-punched clear by Moore to Alex-Ray Harvey. He played it down to Jordan Williams, for whom the ball would not sit for a snap shot with the keeper stranded.

Instead, Williams went left and to the by-line, with his final dinked effort going over Moore but past the far post.

Diarra looked to have broken the deadlock on 70 minutes as he met a Thomas corner with a powerful header in the middle of the area, but somehow Jared Hodgkiss, one of the smallest men on the field, was there to head it up and away from on the line to save Torquay.

Flatt saved Barrow as he got down to turn a Luke Young free-kick round the post, with Sparkes heading over soon after for the Gulls.

A long ball into the Barrow area was missed by everyone and Brett Williams looked set to poach a winner for the visitors as it bounced at his feet, but it was just out of his reach and instead came to the grateful Flatt.

Effiong came on and added strength and life up front – he is certainly one who will be a pleasure to watch as he develops – but his only shot was a scuffed effort from 25 yards that did not trouble Moore.

The game played out to a hushed conclusion, the point what both teams deserved, though what neither wanted.

Barrow AFC: Jon Flatt, Luke Burke, Nick Anderton, Danny Livesey, Moussa Diarra, Connor Thomson (Ross Hannah 78), Alex-Ray Harvey, Jack Thomas, Shaun Tuton, Richie Bennett (Inih Effiong 84), Jordan Williams.

Substitutes: Harry Panayiotou, Paul Turnbull, Liam Hughes.

Yellow Cards: Diarra (37).

Torquay United: Brendan Moore, Jared Hodgkiss, Myles Anderson, Sean McGinty, Lathaniel Rowe-Turner, Jamie Reid, Damon Lanthrope, Courtney Richards (Luke Young 43), Aman Verna, Brett Williams (Ruairi Keating 86), Dan Sparkes.

Substitutes: Gian-Carlo Gallifuoco, Sam Chaney, Gianni Crichlow.

Yellow Cards: Sparkes (43).

Referee: Peter Wright (Southport).