Holker Street Newsletter 790 - 18th April 2001

I am holding the fort whilst Ralph is away and so I apologise if the service isn't up to its usual standard. One minor change for the duration of the Editor's absence is that the summary of non-League results and League tables will be produced only at the weekend, in a sort of 'statistical digest', except for UniBond Premier results, which will continue to be published as they happen.

CORRECTION

The Radcliffe Borough web site has not changed (as stated in HSN 788) and remains at . will be the new web site for the Radcliffe Borough Fanzine, Blue Murder.


DOZEN IT FEEL GREAT
AFC take maximum points over Easter
By Neil Lauderdale, Evening Mail, 17 April

Kenny Lowe heaped praise on Wayne Bullimore after his devastating midfield display helped Barrow to their fourth League win in a week. Bullimore ran the show at Rossett Park yesterday and he grabbed Barrow's winning goal to extend his side's unbeaten run to 12 matches and make it a maximum dozen points over the Easter period. Lee Ellison had earlier levelled things for the Bluebirds with their 100th goal of the season from the spot after falling behind with only four minutes gone, and another three points keeps Barrow in sixth place in the UniBond Premier League table and edges them closer to their end of season target of 70 points. AFC boss Lowe, whose side now have 66 points from 39 games, said today: "I thought Bully was excellent. I thought Jason Ainsley worked hard and did a lot of the unseen and unselfish work to allow Bully the free room to play - the same as Steve Housham. We tried to get our other three midfield lads to go man for man in the middle and let Bully drop off and he was superb." Lowe also delivered the great news today that all his players would be fit for the Chairman's Cup Final at Harrogate Town this Thursday. Yesterday's win means Barrow have only lost once since the end of February and Lowe is delighted that his players are at last putting a decent run together. He added: "I think that's one in 18 now and if you take out the Runcorn game (Barrow lost 3-1) that's nearly half the season and we've still got five games left, so we just need to keep rolling on." Lowe did, however, feel it would be asking a little bit too much of his players to finish the season unbeaten and he said: "I think it will just be a couple of games too far for us. Somewhere down the line we are going to come up against a team who haven't played as many games as us."

Yesterday's Easter Monday win was Barrow's fourth in seven days following victories against Spennymoor United, Gateshead and Frickley Athletic, but Lowe detected a sluggishness about his players and that was evident in the opening quarter of an hour as they fell behind within four minutes. He said: "I thought it was a tired game and I thought we looked a little bit leggy and jaded. Saying that I thought we could have had three or four more goals when Nicky (Peverell) came on. I thought Marine did okay and they could have pinched something out of the game to be truthful, but after the first 10 minutes we were in control. I think we went into it a little bit low key. I just think that for some of the lads it was difficult for them to get tuned in, we could tell that in the warm-up and in the changing rooms."

The Crossbar at Holker Street will be open from 2.30pm on Thursday for any fans who want a drink before travelling to the Chairman's Cup Final.

NO MERSEY AS AFC SINK MARINE
Bluebirds secure maximum points over the Easter period as Ellison and Bullimore score in Merseyside yesterday.
By Neil Lauderdale, Evening Mail, 17 April

Lee Ellison and Wayne Bullimore ensured it was a happy Easter for Barrow by grabbing the goals that sank Marine. The pair scored within five minutes of one another to cancel out the home side's early opener as the Bluebirds extended their unbeaten League and Cup run to twelve. This latest win follows hot on the heels of Saturday's pummelling of Spennymoor, Thursday's victory at home to Gateshead and Tuesday's success at Whitby, and a 12-point maximum return from those four games in a week firmly cemented Barrow's place within the top six of the UniBond Premier League.

They even managed to put distance between themselves and Altrincham, who could only muster a 1-1 draw at Burscough to drop two points behind in seventh. Facing their fourth game in seven days it was understandable then that manager Kenny Lowe again shuffled his pack to rest certain players. He left out Anthony Hall, Neil Doherty and Mike McKechnie from Saturday's starting line-up and recalled Bullimore, Lee Warren and Lee Rogers, and, presumably with one eye on this Thursday's Chairman's Cup Final at Harrogate, Lowe again kept his first choice strike partnership of Grant Holt and Nicky Peverell on the bench. The visitors didn't, however, have things all their own way and it looked during the opening 15 to 20 minutes that their heavy schedule was beginning to take its toll, and Barrow were punished for their slow start when Michael Douglas put Marine ahead with just four minutes on the clock. The goal owed a lot to the pace and trickery of Neil Black, who skipped past Barrow full-back Scott Maxfield to cross low to the near post that resulted in a big goalmouth scramble and when the ball eventually broke loose, Douglas was there to fire a shot past Simon Bishop. The quick strike gave Marine the early advantage and they came close to doubling their lead minutes later when Black's lob over Bishop just drifted wide. At this point Barrow were struggling to string more than two or three passes together and things didn't change until they equalised from the penalty spot after 25 minutes. The referee awarded it to Barrow following a challenge by Marine's Ian Baines at his back post following a deep corner. However, it wasn't clear whether the infringement came because of a handball or for a push in the area. It didn't matter to Barrow either way though as Ellison smashed home his second penalty in the last two games to bring the Bluebirds level. At this point Lowe's team grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and with Bullimore and Graham Anthony finding plenty of space in midfield they carved open the Marine defence time and again. Bullimore's vision and passing sent Ellison clear on 28 minutes and his short ball to Anthony allowed him to cross dangerously into the box, where Mark Schofield hacked it clear. Then Bullimore started and finished the move of the game just after the half hour mark to grab Barrow's second goal of the game. Faced with two covering defenders to the right of the Marine penalty area he held the ball up just long enough before playing a delightful back-heel to the overlapping Anthony. His first time cross was brought down at the back post by Darren Roberts, who played the ball back to the edge of the box to Bullimore, and his pinpoint left foot drive flew into the bottom corner past the despairing dive of Chris Clarke in the Marine goal. It was all one-way traffic after that and a long, diagonal crossfield ball from Anthony allowed Ellison to cross to Roberts, but his volley flew high and wide. Saying that, Barrow had Bishop to thank for keeping them in the lead when he pulled off two fantastic saves within the space of two minutes. His first was a brilliant tip over from Anton Lally's header, which was made even better by the fact that he had to change his body angle right at the last minute, and then he somehow managed to claw David Gamble's headed effort from the edge of the area on to the bar and away for a corner.

After the interval Bullimore once again terrorised the Marine defence with his passing ability as he sent Maxfield clear down the left, but his driven, first time cross was hit over the bar by Ellison as Barrow searched for number three, and that looked to have arrived with just over 10 minutes left on the clock when two of their substitutes combined. Steven Gill played a wonderful first time ball down the centre to send Nicky Peverell clear, but he was unable to round the keeper and score.

SIMON BISHOP: 9 Produced two saves of the highest quality.
LEE ROGERS: 7 Cool and composed.
SCOTT MAXFIELD; 8 Was always available down the left when Barrow attacked.
MARK HUME: 7 Another no nonsense performance.
GRAHAM ANTHONY: 8 After a slow start he showed what he can do when given time on the ball.
LEE WARREN: 7 Successful return to the starting line-up.
STEVE HOUSHAM: 7 Never stopped running in the engine room.
DARREN ROBERTS: 7 Worked hard to held the ball up when Barrow came forward.
LEE ELLISON: 7 Another goal confirms he Is slowly getting back to full fitness.
WAYNE BULLIMORE: *9* Produced a stunning display that had the hallmark of class stamped all over it.
JASON AINSLEY: 7 Again showed his willingness to graft.

Barrow AFC Subs: Gill (Anthony, 64 mins), Peverell (Ellison, 71 mins), Holt (Roberts, 58 mins).

Marine: Clarke, Baines (Thomson, 78 mins), Douglas, Bainbridge, Schofield, (McDiarmid, 45 mins), Gautrey, Black, Lally, Townsend (Courtney, 71 mins), Fitzsimmons.

Goals: Marine: Douglas (4 mins). Barrow: Ellison (25 mins, pen), Bullimore (31 mins).
Red cards: Marine: None. Barrow: None.
Yellow cards: Marine: None. Barrow: None.
Offsides: Marine: 6. Barrow: 6.
Free kicks: Marine: 8. Barrow: 12.
Shots on target: Marine: 5. Barrow: 6.
Shots off target: Marine: 7. Barrow: 6.
Corners: Marine: 4. Barrow: 5.
Referee: Mr A Dean (Wigan).
Attendance: 329.

GRAND NATIONAL DRAW

Winners of the Grand National Draw were published on the Barrow FC Forum. They are: Mr R Cooper UKP500, F Sheppard UKP250, N Hotchkiss UKP100, J Madison UKP50. Each of the following won UKP10: A Robinson, P McKenna, T Bell, P McKeown, R Jenkin, M Cowing, M Hilton, H Dodd, J Speers, P Monks, L Hunt, A Hulme, K Davies, R Crosbie, G Kemp, J Edmondson, N Herd, L Burns, K Walton, R Wadsworth, L Burns, B Crowe, B Phillips, J McMillan Jnr, N McDonald, R Ablitt, K Kelly, P Kavanagh, A Gordon, V Marsden, D Olliver, B Dainton, T Stockbridge, B Ackred, P McPherson, D Leitch.