Sunday 7 February 2016

Hall's well that ends well

BARROW was the 'must-do' trip of the season for me - a new ground after the delights of the M6 ending in the 36-mile cul-de-sac to the Cumbrian coast.
In the end it was well worth the 6.30am fried breakfast, the diversion round the motorway closure which took us through the wilds of Cheshire and getting home just in time for Match of the Day.
And when we sit down at the end of April, hopefully with the championship trophy for company, we may well put this win down in the 'pivotal afternoon' category.
Having got back to somewhere near our best form last weekend against Bromley, Gary Johnson had several riddles to consider beforehand - Jordan Cranston or George McLennan at left back? Should Harry Pell come back after suspension? Should Jack Munns or Billy Waters force their way back in? Should he stick with Asa Hall, James Rowe and James Dayton?
I thought Pell would come back in as he has been such an integral figure this season, but in the event he was on the bench as Gary Johnson opted for the same side.
That decision was vindicated in an opening half hour which was ridiculously one-sided.
Barrow manager Paul Cox decided to play a 3-5-2 system for the first time this season, and as tactical decisions go it wasn't one of his best.
His players looked very uncomfortable and we tore into them, with Jack Barthram and Dayton down the right and McLennan and Rowe down the right having a field day.
Danny Wright scored a very well-taken goal and could have had a second, then Dan Holman had a shot blocked and Rowe's follow-up was saved.
Every time we went forward we were dangerous, and Barrow just looked clueless, but we didn't take sufficient advantage with some poor final balls and a little bit of over-elaboration.
It reminded me of the first half-hour at Southport when we took them to bits and led 3-0, but this time we let Barrow off the hook. We should have been at least three up again.
That was compounded by the missed penalty. It was stonewall as Barthram was felled, and Wright did the same stuttering run-up as Dover but went for the other corner and Joel Dixon saved it.
That, and Cox's double substitution, was the signal for us to lose our way.
Suddenly, from a position of power where we could have been out of sight, we looked jittery and nervous for whatever reason.
Between the penalty and Asa Hall's winner I can't remember us having a chance of note as Barrow were able to contain us with ease.
They had a lot of territory but Dillon Phillips barely had a save to make, yet as time wore on with us only having that one-goal lead the nerves were growing.
We lost Barthram at half-time with Hall dropping to right-back and I thought Pell coming on would really drive us on and help us take a grip on things.
It didn't happen. We were unable to get anything going in a curious turnaround to the afternoon as Wright and Holman became pretty anonymous and all the odds were on a Barrow goal.
It came when a corner was poorly defended, hit Simon Grand and went in. Things were anything but Grand at this point.
Last season and in campaigns before that we would have crumbled. That equaliser would have been followed by another goal.
But we know this team is different. We've seen it several times this season - home games against Barrow and Braintree, and away at Bromley and Dover spring to mind especially.
Games where we have gone behind or been pegged back late, then dug our way out of it with a draw or a win - and this was to be another example.
And just like at Bromley, it was Hall who was in the right place to smash in the winner.
It's been a remarkable few weeks for him. A bit-part player for most of the season, he's now starred at centre-half and in centre-midfield, then filled in at right-back and scored Saturday's winner.
It's another example of 'squad' players putting their hands up, as Rowe and Dayton also played their part again, and as it stands, former regulars like Munns and Waters have a real battle on to get back into the side.
Unthinkable a few weeks ago, but that's how it should be. No-one has a divine right to be in the side.
The bench, with Munns, Waters, Pell and Cranston on it was extremely strong. 25 goals between them and lots of assists - real options to change things if needed.
Cranston came on for Rowe, and interestingly it was he who went to left-back with McLennan pushed forward, and then being replaced by Waters - maybe Gary just taking a chance to see Cranston in his regular position.
Add to those options the soon-to-be-back Amari Morgan-Smith and Rob Dickie and hopefully by the end of February we should be well prepared for the final countdown.
Speaking of which, as the weeks go on it is looking more and more like us and Forest Green going head to head.
We took top spot again, by a point with a game in hand, after they drew at Wrexham, with their third '90 plus something' goal in successive games - strikes that have yielded five points by earning wins against Southport and Macclesfield before Saturday's draw.
Without them we'd be six points clear with a game in hand - but before we call them 'lucky' let's remember we've done the same at those games I mentioned earlier - Braintree, Bromley, Dover and now twice against Barrow... results that we called 'resilient' or 'spirited'. Swings and roundabouts.
It's what good teams do. They keep going to the end and don't chuck in the towel - and that's what both sides are going to do in the title race by the looks of it.
We now have home games with Welling and Kidderminster coming up - the latter being our game in hand, with three of Rovers' next four games being away.
They have trips to Halifax and Guiseley and then they end February at Barrow. Let's hope Paul Cox doesn't decide to play 3-5-2 that day, shall we...?

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