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• Barrow’s climb is a victory for hard work, says boss Pete Wild

  Pete Wild believes his side’s hard work is paying off after Barrow moved into the Sky Bet League Two promotion places with a comfortable 2-0 win over Walsall at Holker Street.

  Goals from Ben Whitfield and Niall Canavan secured all three points as the Bluebirds extended their record unbeaten league run to 10 games.

  Whitfield put the home side ahead after 11 minutes, controlling Canavan’s long range pass before placing the ball perfectly into the far corner from the edge of the area.

  The Bluebirds got the second they deserved with 19 minutes remaining when skipper Canavan pounced to force the ball home from close range for his second of the season, after George Ray’s initial effort was blocked.

  Barrow have now registered five consecutive league wins for the first time since the 1967-68 season and moved up to third in the table.

  Wild said: “Winning games breeds confidence and the more you win the more confident you get.

  “I’m really pleased for the players and staff and everyone is really working hard this season and that’s paying off in terms of results.

  “Good seasons are built on good runs and consistency, so the longer we can keep this run going the better for everyone at the club.”

  “I thought it was a really solid front footed performance tonight. They say this is a tough place to come and I wanted it to be just that tonight.

  “The way we started the game and the energy we played with was really pleasing and we got our first goal from being positive and getting at Walsall from the start of the game.

  “I thought the way Walsall would play would give us space between the lines so I thought it would be an interesting one for Ben Whitfield to start and it paid off for us.”

  Walsall are now six matches without a win and manager Mat Sadler said: “It was a tough watch for anyone who was at the game.

  “We went into the game knowing how poor the pitch was and we highlighted how poor the pitch was and it suited the way they play as they play here every week, how they get goals, how they create chances.

  “They get it in the areas and create chances from the wide areas which is what they did and we didn’t do that nearly enough for the ability we’ve got in our team.

  “So we’re extremely disappointed to let them get their noses in front on a turgid pitch and we didn’t get anything near good enough going for the standards we set ourselves.

  “We dropped well below the standards that we set ourselves tonight but we will put it right.”

• I just want the lads to understand me better – Grant McCann after Doncaster win

  Grant McCann will focus on ensuring his messages are getting through to his Doncaster players loud and clear after being left frustrated with aspects of their performance in the win over Colchester.

  A Tom Smith own goal and efforts from Mo Faal and Joe Ironside saw Rovers to a 3-1 triumph.

  While pleased with the result, McCann felt his side did not heed his instructions to push for more goals after each occasion when they found the net.

  “We got the first goal and then we just sat back a bit again,” he said. “It’s something we need to get to the bottom of.

  “I spoke to the group and said if it’s something I’ve said, I’d hold my hands up but doing that is not something that’s coming out of my mouth.

  “After the first goal, we let Colchester come on to us for a five minute spell and Joe Taylor nearly scored before he actually got the equaliser.

  “We made it hard for ourselves but I said to the lads at half-time that if we score the next one, we have to keep going and get more. You have to keep the foot down but we sat off again and Colchester had chances.

  “It’s not too much of a dig at the lads because on the whole I thought we were good and it’s a good response to losing in the last minute at Crewe.

  “But I just want the lads to understand me better. They have to push themselves up the pitch because we speak about it all the time – scoring and scoring again.”

  Joe Taylor netted an equaliser for Colchester before the break but the visitors offered little in the way of real threat in the second half.

  Head coach Matt Etherington was bitterly disappointed with United’s performance.

  He said: “It wasn’t good enough in the second half and it was probably the worst 45 minutes of football since I’ve come into the role.

  “It’s really disappointing. The players kept going until the end and had a couple of chances but we didn’t deserve to win it with that second-half performance.

  “Two set-pieces again – players not picking their man up from the second phase. Ultimately those two set-pieces have cost us the game.

  “You’re always facing an uphill battle when you’re conceding goals from set-pieces on a regular basis so it’s something that we’re addressing. It’s obviously still not getting addressed properly because we’re conceding goals and we’ll have to have a word about that and a look at the set-up.

  “The set-up hasn’t changed throughout the season and it was good early on. Teams will notice that we’re susceptible to set-pieces and we need to do something about it.”

• ‘Not glamorous’ but Graham Coughlan hails fine win for Newport

  Newport boss Graham Coughlan praised his side’s grit and determination as they came from behind to take the three points at Morecambe.

  On what proved to be a disappointing first night for new Shrimps boss Ged Brannan, goals from Will Evans and Seb Palmer-Houlden either side of the break earned the Exiles a comeback win after Michael Mellon had given the home side an early lead.

  Coughlan said: “That was a brilliant performance from our lads.

  “You saw a different side to us tonight. It wasn’t glitzy or glamorous and it wasn’t tippy-tappy, it was sheer character, grit and determination and that’s what you have to do in this league.

  “Against West Ham a few weeks ago we made 550 passes and didn’t win the game. We didn’t have too many passes tonight but we won the match and that is what football is all about.”

  Mellon gave Morecambe the lead on 12 minutes with a fine turn and shot from the edge of the area that squeezed into the bottom right corner of Nick Townsend’s goal.

  After a sluggish start the visitors hit back on 29 minutes when the home defence failed to clear a corner and Evans hammered home the rebound.

  JJ McKiernan hit the crossbar with a close-range header for the home side on 44 minutes and Adam Mayor was within inches of sliding home a Tom Bloxham cross two minutes into the second half but it was the Exiles who went ahead on 57 minutes.

  Morecambe keeper Adam Smith and midfielder Eli King failed to deal with a bouncing ball in the Morecambe box and Palmer-Houlden took advantage of the gift to score from close range.

  Mellon forced Townsend into a late save with a shot from 12 yards but the visitors held on to make it two wins from two.

  Shrimps boss Brannan said: “I’m disappointed with the result obviously but I’m not disappointed with the performance.

  “I thought the first 20 minutes or so was the best I’ve seen us play in the three months I’ve been here as a coach and now manager. We passed it superbly and the move for our goal was brilliant and it’s a shame we couldn’t build on that.

  “They came back into it when we didn’t defend a corner well enough and they made it hard for us from there and we then gave away another really sloppy goal and couldn’t pull it back.”