VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE

BARROW AFC 0 SUTTON UNITED 0

THE National League play-offs moved just a little further from Barrow AFC’s grasp following another poor afternoon at Holker Street.

For the second home match in succession, the Bluebirds were held to a goalless stalemate by lower-table opponents who deservedly went away with a point.

After Torquay two weeks earlier, this time Sutton were the team who frustrated their hosts – claiming a first away clean sheet at Conference level since 1990 in the process.

Just as in the 1-0 defeat at Guiseley in midweek, Barrow created chances and failed to put them away, but not so many or so obvious as to make you feel they warranted taking all three points from the encounter.

Yet these are the games where teams with promotion credentials need to use those openings to full effect, need to grab the win and steal a march on their rivals to ensure it is they who are in the box-seat.

Barrow could not take those opportunities, could not break down a strong and resolute U’s outfit, and as a result could not climb up within touching distance of the top-five.

Just two wins in 12 in the National League since the end of November is closer to relegation form than it is to promotion form, and the challenge for Paul Cox and his side now is to turn that round, find a spark to bring them back to life and start claiming victories regularly in the last 12 matches. It will not be easy.

The challenge will be made harder by the absences of key men. Top-scorer Byron Harrison is still a week at least from his return, while his foil up front, Richie Bennett will sit out the next two games against Tranmere and Eastleigh through suspension.

Just like Liam Hughes, he picked up his 10th yellow card of the season against Sutton, and those two will be big misses for fixtures which have taken on even greater import on the back of recent results.

Danny Livesey, too, may be sat on the sidelines, having been withdrawn at half-time on Saturday following a first-half clash of heads when defending his area. He lasted until the break, but could carry on no longer and must now wait to see if concussion protocols come into play.

Worse still, his replacement from the bench, Blackburn Rovers loanee Matty Platt, suffered what looks a serious knee injury. His time with Barrow may be restricted to 20 minutes he played against Sutton.

None of these are happy signs for the Bluebirds.

Nor was the inability to put away chances throughout the 90 minutes, starting with Ross Hannah being put into space on the right by Dan Rowe and making it into the area, before cutting back inside from a promising area and miscontrolling, allowing the U’s to clear.

Hannah and Bennett were too often caught offside in the early going, while no-one could meet Moussa Diarra’s header across the box from an Alex-Ray Harvey free-kick before Dan Spence cleared.

The nearest either side came to a goal was on 19 minutes as Nick Anderton whipped in a great cross from the left to the near-post, where Bennett flicked on.

The ball was heading wide of the far upright, but Hughes was there and had two bites of the cherry, the second headed back past Sutton keeper Will Puddy but amazingly cleared off the line by Nicky Bailey. On another day, with luck going their way, AFC would have been ahead.

Hughes produced a neat flick over the defence to find Bennett, who just about reached it at full stretch but found the defence scrambling round to clear, and he was soon booked for a bad tackle in the U’s half, having been warned not long before by referee Karl Evans he was on his last warning.

Before half-time, Diarra produced an unlikely volley from 15 yards out from a corner that was sweetly hit but just went past the top corner, and Hannah looked to replicate his super free-kick at Aldershot, but dipped just over the bar from 25 yards with Puddy beaten.

Livesey left the field at the break and the rejigged defence barely had time to catch breath before Bailey walloped wide from 20 yards with the visitors’ first chance of the afternoon.

Hughes soon picked up a booking for getting involved after a Sutton man had been tackled into the AFC dug-out and Platt twice went down holding his knee, the second proving game-ending and seeing Paul Turnbull come on, with Rowe moved into defence.

Kevin Amankwaah looped a header off target for Sutton, Bennett took the ball 20 yards out, turned and shot to force Puddy to turn the effort behind, and Roarie Deacon flashed wide from 20 yards after a quick move from a throw-in.

Shaun Tuton came on for Hannah and made space on the left, with his ball across goal glanced wide of the far post by Bennett, before a scramble in the home area – with shouts of handball ignored – ended with Jack Jebb’s 18-yard shot deflected wide.

Sutton played the closing stages with 10 men after Deacon went down in the area under a tackle and Mr Evans rejected calls for a penalty which would not have seemed entirely unjustified. Instead, they were waved away and his protests saw Deacon pick up a second yellow in five minutes and leave the field.

It did not matter in the final reckoning, as AFC could create nothing of substance to take advantage. They will need to in future if the play-offs are to be anything more than a distant dream.

Barrow AFC (4-4-2): Jon Flatt, Shaun Beeley, Nick Anderton, Danny Livesey (Matty Platt h/t, Paul Turnbull 67), Moussa Diarra, Alex-Ray Harvey, Liam Hughes, Dan Rowe, Richie Bennett, Ross Hannah (Shaun Tuton 74), Jordan Williams.

Substitutes Not Used: Inih Effiong, Connor Thomson.

Yellow Cards: Bennett (37), Hughes (50), Anderton (61), Tuton (90).

Sutton United (4-1-3-2): Will Puddy, Kevin Amankwaah, Dan Spence, Dean Beckwith, Jamie Collins, Nicky Bailey, Bedsente Gomis, Adam May (Jack Jebb 71), Roarie Deacon, Maxime Biamou (Kieron Cadogan 68), Adam Coombes (Craig Dundas 80).

Substitutes Not Used: Louis John, Baboye Traore.

Yellow Cards: Gomis (50), Deacon (82, 87), Cadogan (89).

Red Cards: Deacon (87).

Referee: Karl Evans (Manchester).

Attendance: 1,145 (49 from Sutton).