BARROW AFC manager Pete Wild has thanked Bradford City manager Mark Hughes for complimenting his side with '11 players back' remark. 

Josh Kay's 25th minute strike was the difference between the two play-off chasers at Valley Parade last weekend, in a game where Barrow only had 22 per cent possesion.

However, the Bluebirds boss warned against taking these statistics at face value, especially as Barrow shut out Bradford for large portions of the clash, with the hosts not managing a shot on target in front of 17,000 home crowd. 

He said: "Stats can be misconstrued in anyway you want to make them, ultimately we look at the game and some of the messages from people within the game that I had who were at the game, letting them have the ball and moving across in a shape is one way of playing against Bradford."

READ MORE: Pete Wild praises Barrow's 'steel and grit' after Bradford victory

After the game, the former Manchester United star and Manchester City manager spoke about the difficulties his side had playing against a Barrow side that had '11 players back'.

He said: "It is difficult when team just sit in and wait to break off you.

"They’ve got 11 players back so you’ve got to be creative, bright and able to create overloads in wider areas. We never really did that and were a little bit safe in our play."

Responding to the Hughes' comments, Wild chose to highlight how they complimented his sides ability to defend compactly and secure a result that looked potentially unlikely based on recent form. 

He said: "I think it's a compliment, I think what he is trying to say there is a compliment, we got 11 men behind the ball, wea re away from home in front of 17,000 fans, we are a team that has had a real bumpy ride over the last couple of months and I think it is a real compliment to the players that they could not break us down and for much possession they had, I think we should take it as a compliment."