If you've got this far you will have realised that
timekeeping is not Graham Murphy's strong point. So if he
leaves North Wales at 1.25 for a journey of over a hundred
miles to the far side of Bradford, he shouldn't be surprised
if he doesn't get there in time for a 3.00 kick off. Well,
he didn't and he wasn't, but that didn't spoil his enjoyment
of a game that was one of our best of the 1995-96
season...
GUISELEY 1 BARROW 3
UniBond League Premier Division
13 April 1996
by Graham Murphy
Barrow stormed into second place in the UniBond Premier Division with this marvellous win at Guiseley. Barrow, with three consecutive victories under their belts, will have made leaders Bamber Bridge look nervously over their shoulders wondering whether their six point lead will be enough to prevent Barrow from pipping them at the post during the last four games of the season. With three of those games being against the bottom two teams in the League (Matlock once and Buxton twice) Barrow could make it a fantastic six wins out of their final seven games. Barrow's other fixture, away at Boston, may well be the one that decides whether the championship goes to North Lancashire or Central Lancashire.
"But what of Guiseley?" I hear you say. Well, they weren't bad. In fact in the first half, it looked like they could have had us on the rack. But Barrow totally dominated the second half and overran Guiseley by the superiority of their football.
Both teams shared the first twenty minutes of play but it was Guiseley who took the lead when a Hepworth free kick was allowed to bounce in the goalmouth in the only slack piece of defending Barrow were guilty of in the entire ninety minutes. This allowed Flanagan to bundle the ball into the net through a crowd of defenders. Fifteen minutes later, Guiseley almost increased their lead, but Deegan saved well from a deflected shot. Barrow tried manfully to get back into the game before half-time, but a number of promising moves just wouldn't come off. Humphreys set up Foreman, but his shot was parried by Dickinson. The rebound was headed goalwards by Green and it appeared to have crossed the line before Dickinson clawed it back. Foreman passed inside to Parker who shot wide when he should have left the ball for Hoskin who was alongside him. Finally, Green beat the offside trap and was through on goal until Hogarth made a superb tackle to push the ball into touch.
New manager Mike Walsh sent the team on for the second half by putting on new boy McKenna in place of Ventre at right back. This may have tightened up Barrow's defence and certainly Guiseley never enjoyed the attacking success in the second half that they had in the first. And with Barrow playing two men wide (Hoskin on the right and Grimes on the left) Guiseley's defence was soon under pressure. But first it was James who had a shot at the Barrow goal that was taken well by Deegan. The play soon switched to the other end and Oliver released Grimes down the left wing but his shot went over the bar. Humphreys released Foreman with a clever pass from mdfield but a defender took the ball off Foreman's toe and booted it over the bar.
The pressure paid off after 55 minutes when a Hoskin cross was headed past Dickinson by Parker to level the score at 1-1. As Oliver chased a loose ball down the left wing, Hepworth decided that the best way to stop him getting there first was to push him in the face and this earned Hepworth a booking. A McDonald shot from twenty yards was safely gathered by Dickinson. On 63 minutes, a superb cross from the right by McDonald was measured perfectly for Foreman's header which crashed into the back of the net to put Barrow into the lead.
Guiseley attacked straight from the kick off and a scuffle ensued by the corner flag which ended up with bookings for Stevenson and Speak. Flanagan was the fifth name in the book for a kick on Humphreys. Guiseley brought on Ledingham for Bottomley but they couldn't get back into the game, so tight was Barrow's grip on midfield. The killer punch came in the 77th minute when McKenna's pass through a square back four put Humphreys through with only the goalie to beat. This he did with a superb chip over his head and into the back of the net for Barrow's third goal.
Guiseley's defence began to resemble the collagen on a Princess' thighs as Barrow's attack started to tear holes in it. Hoskin cut in from the right wing and pushed the ball inside for Foreman who had only the goalie to beat, but the shot rebounded off the diving body of Dickinson. Ten minutes before the end, Smith came on for Foreman for his first game in four weeks and almost set Grimes up with his first touch of the ball.
But Guiseley weren't finished yet, and visions of Winsford swam momentarily before my eyes (3-1 up, but lost 4-3) as Taylor was gifted a clear shot on goal. Fortunately he's in practice for Rugby League so he lofted his shot well over the bar. Deegan had to save bravely at James's feet when he was put through on goal, and had to repeat the save a minute later on the same player. Finally Smith crossed to Green, but he failed to connect. Barrow's travelling blue and white army applauded the team off the pitch for a brilliant performance which puts them right back in the championship picture.
Mike Walsh has certainly blown away a few cobwebs and got them playing like a team in just over a fortnight in charge. At last, the players are doing themselves justice. Foreman was named as man of the match by the Guiseley match sponsor, but Hoskin and McDonald both had good games and Oliver, Deegan and Speak can also be pleased with their performances. McKenna had a useful 45 minutes and what should also be remembered is that this victory was achieved without Morton, Brown or Todhunter. No wonder Billy Kenny's moved on. The way they're playing, he'd struggle to get a game for the rest of the season. It looks like he's definitely missed the bus this time.
Originally appeared as 'Games We're Really
Glad We Went to See no.2' in issue 026 - May 1996
