Quigley’s late winner lifts battling Bluebirds
CARETAKER
Barrow boss Rob Kelly praised his side’s determination after winning a fivegoal thriller against Crawley in the last minute.
Scott Quigley got the decisive winner six minutes into added time at Holker Street.
The battling Bluebirds had twice been pegged back after goals from George Francomb and Jack Powell cancelled out Tom Davies and Quigley’s penalty.
And victory was the first time Barrow have secured four Football League wins on the bounce since 1968.
Kelly, who saw his side go seven points clear of the relegation zone, said: “We showed a lot of character and resilience to win. There are different ways to win a football match, they were difficult conditions for both sides.
“I didn’t really want to settle for a point. With the situation we’re in we’ll always take a point, of course we will.
“The mentality has to be right with everybody. Not just the players, but the staff have been great, everyone’s committed to get out of the trouble we’re in.
“It probably wasn’t one for the purist, but it was an exciting game. Their keeper made a couple of really good saves, we had a couple of scares at our end.”
Davies put the hosts ahead in the 10th minute when he headed home Ollie Banks’ corner.
George Francomb levelled on the half hour mark after top scorer Tom Nichols put the ball on a plate for him.
But Quigley quickly restored the hosts’ lead from the penalty spot after Tony Craig felled Bobby Thomas.
Glenn Morris did extremely well to keep out Banks’ free-kick after being wrong-footed by a wicked deflection.
Powell seemingly secured a point with his 84th-minute header but Quigley sparked scenes of jubilation with his winner deep in stoppage time.
Crawley have slipped six points off a play-off place after this disappointing defeat.
But manager John Yems slammed the way his side defended. He fumed:
“If we defend like we defended today then we won’t win another game. It just wasn’t acceptable. I don’t find it funny and I don’t find it amusing. We’ve got to do better.”