Barrow interim boss reacts to strange 'penalty' incident against Chesterfield
Sam Foley accepted the decision not to award Barrow a penalty in the first-half against Chesterfield was the right decision.
Danny Rose went over in the box when one-on-one with Ryan Boot and referee Darren Drysdale blew his whistle and looked set to point to the spot. But, after a short pause and after appearing to take some advice through his earpiece, restarted the game with a dropped ball in the Spireites’ favour.
The decision to blow up and restart the match in that way baffled both camps but they both agreed it was the correct call in the end. Interim manager, Foley, said: "I have not seen it back but the guys were saying that they don’t think it was a penalty so I am not sure what the ref has blown the whistle for. You will have to ask him that question. It is just one of those things.”
The Blues won 1-0 thanks to James Berry’s second-half strike which came about after Lee Bonis forced Barrow goalkeeper Wyll Stanway into a mistake when he put pressure on him.
Foley said: "Mistakes happen, it is how you react to that, it is very unfortunate for Wyll who was a hero for us three days ago. The mistake defines the game but it is not going to define our season, it is how we are going to react to that.”
The game at Holker Street was not a classic and with very few chances, although Chesterfield did have good opportunities to extend their lead in the last 20 minutes with Armando Dobra, Dilan Markanday and Lee Bonis all going close, while Sil Swinkels missed a sitter.
The victory was Town’s third on the spin and it keeps them in the play-offs, but Barrow remain in the relegation zone.
Foley said: "They are a good side, Chesterfield, we knew it was going to be a tough game, they have got some good players. Unfortunately, we could not do enough. Frustrated, for sure, but when we are looking at what we want from the players, the effort levels were there. We are delighted with that.
"I think it was quite an even game on chances. They had a lot of the ball which we expected and we were set-up to nullify them creating anything and the lads were really good at."