BLUEBIRDS COME OUT SWINGING!

BARROW 2 SUTTON UNITED 1

SUTTON UNITED were left fuming after they had two goals controversially disallowed in their defeat at Barrow, who have finally managed to bag back-to-back wins in the league.

There was real confusion about the U’s first strike to be ruled out, with the officials taking a couple of minutes to decide Kenny Davis was offside after scrambling the ball over the line.

It proved to be pivotal, as the Bluebirds eventually held on for consecutive victories in the National League for the first time since November 2017, thanks to first-half goals from Jack Hindle and Luke Burgess.

Sutton assistant manager Ian Baird said: “In reality, it should be 2-2 because the referee has disallowed two of our goals for offside and no one knows what they’re for.

“The first one in particular was confusing – all their players have gone around the ref and the linesman has run away to the halfway line and hasn’t given anything.

“It was ridiculous, but you can’t talk to referees. But credit to our players, we gave it a go in the second half after being disappointed with our first-half performance.”

Barrow got off to a flying start in the second minute when a long pass found Jack Hindle out on the left and he cut inside before whipping in a superb strike from the edge of the area.

Ross Lafayette nearly levelled for Sutton when his looping header from Aaron Drinan’s cross was cleared off the line by Dan Jones.

The Bluebirds doubled their advantage four minutes before the break when John Rooney’s chipped pass found Rhys Norrington-Davies and his low cross was buried by Luke Burgess. Sutton were left angry not once but twice after the break, with the strange incident involving Davis being followed by Aswad Thomas having one chalked off with the flag up again.

Both sides then struck the woodwork, with Jonah Ayunga missing from close range for Sutton and Barrow’s Tyler Smith leaving Jamie Butler stranded only for the ball to strike an upright.

Sutton did eventually score when Thomas headed in Dan Wishart’s cross in the fourth minute of stoppage time, but time ran out for them.

Barrow boss Ian Evatt said: “In the second half, we’ve had to dig in and we weren’t quite ourselves. We had to make changes, through illness, injuries, suspensions, so it’s not been easy for the lads this week, but I’m delighted for them because they deserve that for the way they’ve been performing.

“We’ve deserved the rub of the green and I think today we got that. First half, I thought we were exceptional at times, with two fantastic goals.” STAR MAN: Dan Jones (Barrow) ATT: 1,203 ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★ REFEREE: Glen Hart 6/10