Paul Gallagher eyes attacking reinforcements as Barrow lose again

Paul Gallagher pledged to boost Barrow’s attacking options after his first game in charge of the Cumbrians ended in a 3-1 defeat at Crewe.

Barrow have won just once in their last 12 games and Gallagher watched his new charges concede twice inside four minutes early on at the Mornflake Stadium.

While Isaac Fletcher’s fifth goal of the campaign briefly brought hope, the visitors were lacking firepower despite enjoying large amounts of possession in the second half.

With striker Josh Gordon ruled out for four weeks and defender MJ Williams also facing a spell on the sidelines, the club’s new head coach needs transfer window reinforcements.

“The frontline needs addressing as we’ve got to add competition at the top end of the pitch,” said former Blackburn, Leicester and Preston striker Gallagher, who is starting his first permanent managerial role.

“We’ve got a week to our next game and hopefully we can get something across the line. It’s a big disappointment losing MJ and Josh as they are big players for us.

“Goals win games and Crewe were ruthless when they had opportunities from our mistakes. It’s been alarming how many goals we have been conceding.

“We started too slow and were a bit passive, but once we believed what we were doing we were aggressive on the front foot and our goal came from Scott Smith winning a big tackle in the middle of the pitch.

“In football, it’s how much do you want to win and we tried to find a way to get back in the game, but we were just not ruthless enough in the final third.”

Barrow keeper Wyll Stanway had no chance stopping Tommi O’Reilly’s volley from the edge of the box for Crewe’s opener. But slack defending allowed Crewe to grab two easy first-half goals.

Josh March squared for Calum Agius to fire into the bottom corner to double the lead and after Fletcher cut the lead, finishing on the follow-up after Ian Lawlor failed to hold Connor Mahoney’s shot, March had a simple tap-in from a corner for his seventh goal of the season.

Barrow were the better side in the second half but Fletcher’s touch let him down in a one-on-one with Lawlor, who did well to keep out Smith’s flick on a Tom Barkhuizen cross.

The win kept Crewe in touch with the top seven and afterwards boss Lee Bell confirmed goalscorer O’Reilly, on loan from Aston Villa, and Stoke youngster Emre Tezgel will stay at the club for the rest of the campaign.

“It is great for us as it shows players enjoy playing here, otherwise they’d be moving on as they are both sharp operators,” said Bell.

“It was a really good performance and I thought Barrow were excellent in the second half. But we were a real threat every time we went forward and did we what we had to to see it out.

“We’re the joint third highest scorers in the division and our home form is important, but we now need to improve the away tally.

“Tommi and Calum scored excellent goals and Josh’s goal was down to his enthusiasm to be in the right place at the right time.”