FRUSTRATED Barrow boss Mark Cooper was left bitterly disappointed after his side failed to put away struggling Scunthorpe.

George Taft put the visitors ahead with a free header before Robbie Gotts denied the Football League basement boys a welcome win at Holker Street.

Both sides missed penalties as Ryan Loft missed the target in the first half before Ollie Banks saw his saved by Rory Watson with 16 minutes to go.

“It should have been all three when you look at the second half,” grumbled Cooper.

“In the second half we’ve totally dominated the game, but we’ve given ourselves a bit of a mountain to climb by conceding a rubbish goal from a free header from a corner again.

“It happened against [Leyton] Orient here and we have to be tougher defensively.

“Scunthorpe are fighting for their lives, they’ve put everyone behind the ball. What you can’t do is give them a leg up and a goal start because then they have something to hold on to.

“The wind was a factor in the first half so we couldn’t get the ball forward as much as we wanted in the first half.

“We were a bit slow with our possession in the first half and then I was convinced if we got to half time 0-0 then we’d win the game.

“We didn’t, we were a little bit soft. We’ve got to defend that, it’s a free header.

“I had to change it at half time to make us be able to pass the ball quicker.

“We dominated the second half and should have won the game comfortably.

“When you do concede that goal and give them something to hang onto you’re playing on fine margins.”

Cooper was left to rue the Bluebirds plethora of missed chances, not least Banks’ penalty.

Josh Gordon also hit the bar late on to win it for the hosts as Watson’s inspired performance.

And Cooper added: “They’re fighting for everything. We’ve hit the bar, hit the post twice, miss the penalty.

“We should win the game, but the goal before half time kills us and costs us two points.

“The way we played here in the second half against Newport and the second half here; that’s the way I want us to play.

“We totally dominated the opposition with the ball. We had 80 per cent possession and 27 or 28 shots in half a game of football.

“The second half performance was fantastic. At times I was thinking ‘is it 10 men or 11 men we’re playing against?’

“Fair play to Scunthorpe they’re fighting for their lives, they put everybody behind the ball and they make it difficult.

“We have to start a little bit quicker but we can’t give them the goal to hang on to.

“You have to be tougher, if your man is going in the box you make sure he doesn’t score. You don’t have to be six-foot-four or six-foot-five. You can be five-foot-eight and still be tough defensively to stop your man scoring and we didn’t do that.”