Barrow boss heaps praise on Blackpool after weekend friendly

Barrow boss Pete Wild has said Blackpool were outstanding against his side over the weekend. The Seasiders took on the Bluebirds on Saturday afternoon at Holker Street in a pre-season friendly and won 5-0.

Matty Virtue and Shayne Lavery scored in the first-half to give the Tangerines a 2-0 lead at half-time. Jake Beesley then added a third before Sonny Carey bagged twice in front of 736 travelling supporters.

Blackpool played two starting XI’s in both halves which gave them fresh legs. Barrow, on the other hand, were more leggy and some of their players ended up playing the whole match.

Wild was full of praise for his opponents afterwards and told his club website: “Blackpool were very good today. That was the challenge we thought we were going to get last Saturday (against Preston North End). It allowed us to really challenge ourselves.

“It really stressed us. We’ve come up against Blackpool on the rise and they were very athletic. They had two (different starting XI’s in both halves) 45’s against us who are playing 60’s and some 90’s off the back of 10k hill running on Thursday and I think you could see that from very early on.

“I’m not taking anything away from Blackpool, I thought they were outstanding but we hit each other at the wrong time and I thought that showed today.”

Barrow midfielder Ben Whitfield also said: “It (losing) brings you back down to reality, back down to Earth. I think winning all the time over pre-season can have an effect on your mentality. Sometimes you need that game that doesn’t go your way because we’re going to have them in the season. That’s bound to happen.”

Blackpool are back in friendly action against Morecambe away on Tuesday night. They then face Hibernian at Bloomfield Road on Saturday in their final clash before the start of the new campaign.