BARROW boss Pete Wild praised his side after a hard-fought 2-1 comeback victory against Liverpool U21s in the EFL Trophy.

Despite victory, the Bluebirds crashed out of the competition after previous defeats to Blackpool and Morecambe.

Mateusz Musialowski opened the scoring with a stunning strike before Sean Etaluku and Mazeed Ogungbo both bagged their first goals for the club to secure victory.

And the win was doubly delightful for Wild as it secured the club a much-needed £10,000 windfall. 

They had already banked £41,000 for beating League One Northampton Town in the first round of the FA Cup, a tidy sum which will rise to £67,000 if they beat non-league Maidstone in the second round next month.

"These games are well worth winning," insisted Wild. 

"To win that game is financially great for the football club. We’re trying to get sand on the pitch and some work done on the pitch and that doesn’t come at a cheap cost.

"Now I can push and push to get that work done and Gareth [Morgan, groundsman] gets what he needs to help the pitch during this winter period.

"A lot of finances had to go on the seating this summer and we knew that and with that it meant something else had to give. I am the last to moan about money because I know how difficult it is to run a football club.

"My job’s to try and generate finances where possible so we can get every bit of work needed done.

"The owners are true to their words, they said get some money in and we can help in other areas, and we know this week when the rain stops that Gareth will look to do some work on the pitch."

Wild revealed that Owen Bray, who was a bright spark in the first half, went home ill at half time. 

And on the game, Wild added: "I’m really pleased with the lads efforts, they gave it a right shift.

"It was an outstanding goal to put them ahead, you can’t do much about it when they stick it in the top corner.

"We knew what it would be second half, we knew we had to wear them down because physically they are where they are with the maturity of their bodies.

"Niall and George were always going to do 45 minutes each. We’re short of number at centre-halve so I asked them to do 45 each for me.

"Owen’s unfortunately ill, he went home ill. He had a bad stomach before the game and he felt really bad at the break.

"Braysy did really well first half. I was really pleased with all four of the youngsters. They were great and I was pleased with how they went about their business.

"We said to Sean at half-time ‘how many times have you run the full-back? You’re so quick, run the full-back’.

"Ironically he starts running the full-back when we go to a four and he’s at left-back.

"I’m pleased for his because he’s a great lad and he’s shown his worth. You can’t coach that pace and we’re lucky when he gets going he causes teams problems."