Barrow boss Pete Wild hailed an “outstanding achievement” from his side to prove their doubters wrong and mount a late-season promotion push in League Two.
An early brace from in-form Cole Stockton and a late clincher from Robbie Gotts secured a 3-1 win over Grimsby that means Barrow have now amassed 14 points from a possible 18 in March.
That has lifted the Cumbrians up to fifth in the table, six points behind third-placed Wrexham with a game in hand, and is the perfect response to those who had dismissed Barrow’s chances barely a month ago.
Wild said: “There were a lot of people who wrote us off at the end of February.
“A lot of people said ridiculous things; things I remember if everyone else doesn’t.
“But we have hit back with 14 points out of 18 points. It is an outstanding achievement.
“We always knew if we were in and around it coming into March, we had a real opportunity with five out of six home games. We have delivered on that.
“I am so proud of everyone. It shows every team goes through these bumps but it is how you respond.
“However, I was frustrated with the players at half-time we hadn’t killed the game off.
“They played as though the game was over. Getting the third goal really helped us.”
Stockton has now scored seven goals since moving to Holker Street on loan from Burton in January.
“We brought Cole here because of his coolness and calmness in front of goal,” said Wild.
“A lot of credit must go to Robbie and Whits (Ben Whitfield) for the first goal and to Dom (Telford) for the second.
“The lads know if they work hard and Cole is in the right position he will take his chances.”
In contrast to Barrow, who visit Stockton’s former side Morecambe on Easter Monday, Grimsby sit only three points above the drop zone.
They were already 3-0 down when Justin Obikwu netted an 88th-minute consolation.
“We didn’t help ourselves and gave them two goals,” said manager Dave Artell.
“If you give a team in the play-offs two goals, who have had four clean sheets here in the last five games, it is going to be a long afternoon.
“Did we deserve something out of the game? Probably.
“We weren’t helped by the referee (Oliver Langford). He is a full-time referee but he was a disgrace,” added Artell, who was shown a yellow card in the second half for protesting a decision.
“I am not saying any more of that. I will get myself into trouble. Take the referee out of it though, we have got to make sure we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot in the first instance.
“We started off well, we hit the post, we have had chances. Justin scored a good goal but their third goal killed us.
“Games are won in both boxes and we weren’t good enough in both boxes.”
Motta bemoans profligate Juve showing after Cagliari snatch draw
Thiago Motta was left frustrated with Juventus' inability to make their dominance count after Razvan Marin's late equaliser snatched a 1-1 draw for Serie A strugglers Cagliari.
Dusan Vlahovic's early penalty gave Juve the lead but Marin's 88th-minute spot-kick cost the hosts two important points that would have moved them to within one of leaders Napoli.
Marin's late salvaging act was the first goal Juventus have conceded this season in the league, though their inability to build on the early strike was what head coach Motta bemoaned after Sunday's draw.
"Already in the first half, after the goal, we were content to control the game. It's no good," Motta told DAZN.
"We have to keep attacking. In the second half, we created chances but we didn't exploit them. There was always the feeling that Cagliari could come back into the game.
"In Serie A, all games are complicated, regardless of who we face and whether we play at home or away. Today we left room for Cagliari to get back into the game."
Vlahovic may have converted the penalty but was also guilty of missing an excellent chance to extend Juve's lead when he fired wide on the rebound from close range.
Motta's side accumulated a tally of 2.57 expected goals (xG) overall, compared to Cagliari's 1.12, suggesting three points should have ended in the hands of the profligate Juve.
The Italian head coach refused to point the finger at Vlahovic, though insisted improvements are needed.
"You can't say anything, it's a match situation. It happens and will happen," Motta said. "But there are other things that we can certainly do better in order to compete, to be able to continue to grow."
Francisco Conceicao made his first start of the season against Cagliari, but the Portugal winger was sent off late in the game when he received a second booking for simulation in the penalty area.
"I haven't seen the images, if it's simulation, it's the correct decision. It's something we've been talking about for a long time, simulations are not good for the game," Motta added in his press conference.
"I trust the referee, but now a precedent opens up and it must always be like this. It must always be done, not every now and then."
Girona 2-1 Athletic Bilbao: Gazzaniga penalty saves set the stage for late Stuani winner
Cristhian Stuani scored a 99th-minute penalty to snatch a 2-1 victory for Girona against Athletic Bilbao after Paulo Gazzaniga had saved multiple spot-kicks at the other end.
Alex Berenguer won the first penalty in the 26th minute after being fouled by Arnau Martinez, but the goalkeeper denied him when he stepped up.
Athletic were punished shortly after as Yaser Asprilla sent a dangerous left-footed cross past Alex Padilla into the bottom-left corner.
Oihan Sancet scored the equaliser just two minutes later, but the visitors' poor luck from 12 yards continued after the break.
Inaki Williams' effort was also stopped but had to be retaken as Gazzaniga's feet were off the line. However, the goalkeeper kept his nerve, as he denied Ander Herrera, who stepped up to take the second attempt.
Deep in stoppage time, Aitor Paredes brought down Ladislav Krejci in the box and received two bookings in less than a minute, one for the foul and the second for dissent.
Stuani duly converted the resulting spot-kick to seal all three points for Girona and end a four-match winless run in LaLiga.
Data Debrief: Athletic pay the penalty for spot-kick woe
Athletic will be scratching their heads as to how they came away from this game with nothing, given the attacking threat they showed throughout.
They accumulated 2.59 expected goals (xG) from their 13 shots, albeit those two spot-kicks played a huge part in that total, but come away with an unwanted record as they missed two penalties in a single LaLiga game for the first time this century.
That was largely down to Gazzaniga's heroics, though, as he showed his prowess with three saves, even if one of those will not officially count.
Stuani proved the hero in the end though, scoring his sixth goal against Athletic in LaLiga to get Michel's side up and running again before the international break.
Carvajal signs new deal with Madrid after season-ending injury
Dani Carvajal has signed a contract extension with Real Madrid until June 2026.
The full-back could miss the rest of the 2024-25 season after sustaining a cruciate ligament injury in Saturday's 2-0 win over Villarreal.
Carvajal's contract was due to expire at the end of the campaign, but Madrid responded almost immediately by extending his stay with the club for at least a further year.
The 32-year-old, who has been with Los Blancos since the age of 10, has won six Champions League titles and four LaLiga crowns during his time at Santiago Bernabeu, while amassing 427 appearances.
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