Barrow have had a mixed season which saw them comfortably beat the drop and play some extremely entertaining attacking football for a while but also finished the campaign on a real downer that left a tinge of disappointment hanging around the place. Having just about beaten the drop the previous season, the managers Dave Bayliss and Darren Sheridan had to be shrewd in the market with a tiny budget but managed to pull off a coup in the signing of Adam Boyes who was released by Scunthorpe. The Bluebirds enjoyed a very impressive start of the season that included a 4:0 thumping of local rivals Fleetwood. The team was showing real commitment and dedication along with the work ethic and claimed another impressive result by beating the then league leaders Wrexham 3:1 in September. The away form was a bit patchy but the goals were flowing up front and Barrow set a new club record of scoring in each of the first 18 games of the campaign. Some dreadful displays at the back meant that they never able to get enough consistency and at best were stationed in the top ten as the calendar year drew to a close. The results hardly picked up in January but then the bombshell came that co-manager Sheridan was relieved of his duties after an internal bust-up. Bayliss initially made a flying start as a sole manager and even won the award for best manager in February after guiding the team to four wins and a draw in five games which included a 1:0 win over Luton and a 2:1 victory at Kidderminster. At that stage the talk of a play-off push came to surface again and the players just lost any belief in their abilities. Suddenly all the intensity and grit from their performance was gone and they went on a dreadful run of form, winning just a point from their next ten games and conceding hatful of goals. They were thrashed 7:0 by Mansfield and 4:0 at home to Braintree. The lack of interest among the players was really alarming and Bayliss seemed unable to arrest the slump at that stage but his men at least ended the campaign with a 3:1 win over Newport County that was their first since February. However, the level of performances in the last couple of months were just not up to scratch and it remains to be seen what effect this had on the morale of the squad going to next season.
