Barrow boss Andy Whing was pleased with the second-half response from his players after they drew 0-0 at Fleetwood.
Whing admitted that the first 45 minutes was ‘rubbish’ at Highbury Stadium, but he felt his side improved massively after the restart as they at least stretched their impressive run of results.
After the battle between two safe, mid-table sides, Whing said: “To be brutally honest I think that first-half performance was pretty rubbish, but at least we came away with a point and another clean sheet.
“There was a distinct lack of quality from my lads, and the intensity wasn’t there nearly enough.
“The second half was an improvement, though.
“Don’t forget the lads have been fantastic since I came in, and I said to them at half-time that we should just go out there and have a go.
“We did that I thought, and we created a few decent chances and hit the bar.
“The pitch wasn’t great and some of the lads did look a bit leggy later in the game, but we had our moments and came close to nicking a goal.
“Our wide men had a massive off-day, but overall I have to give massive credit to all of my players.
“We’ve secured another clean sheet, and I think that’s just one defeat in 10 games now, which is a major positive.”
Neither side offered much of an attacking threat during a dismal first 45 minutes.
Barrow’s Ben Whitfield went closest as he forced Fleetwood goalkeeper Jay Lynch into a superb early save.
The quality on the field did not improve much in the second period.
Barrow went closest to grabbing a winner when Ben Jackson’s half-volley thumped the crossbar.
Fleetwood boss Pete Wild agreed with some of Whing’s sentiments after he came up against his former team for the first time since moving in at Highbury over Christmas.
Wild said: “I’m pleased because we were far better than we had been in our previous two games.
“We had a lot of the ball in the first half, without really going anywhere with it.
“We needed a bit of impetus because we definitely missed that killer edge you need in front of goal.
“I asked the lads to give it a go in the second half, and to be fair, they did.
“We passed the ball so well and got into some good positions, and I really enjoyed watching us in that second half.
“Credit to the lads, they all gave 110 per cent once again and I can’t ask for much more than that.
“We played with much more freedom in the second half, and none of the lads were just going through the motions.
“There were lots of positives to take from that second-half performance.”
