Barry Town United manager Gavin Chestefield has insisted that his squad must keep working hard as they saw off the challenge of bottom-placed Llanelli Town to maintain their faultless home form in the JD Welsh Premier League.
The Linnets boss was delighted with the performance of his side as they made it six wins on the spin at Jenner Park and also commended the attacking ability of both of his full-backs during the win – Macauley Southam-Hales and Chris Hugh as they helped Barry Town United win an epic seven-goal thriller against Llanelli Town 5-2 on Friday evening.
He said: “It is a difficult game to play in because they came to frustrate us. They came to sit deep and play on the counter-attack and I have got to give my lads credit because we stuck to the process of moving the ball quickly.
“The process of looking to switch the play, the process of playing through teams and I have to give them huge credit in the fact of we have come on strong late in the game again and put some goals away to earn the three points – deservedly.
“We have got some great games to look forward to, tough games but great games,” he added.
“I thought Macca (Macauley Southam-Hales) and Chris (Chris Hugh) were fantastic today. I don’t want to single them out but I think they offered a real good threat to us going forward today.
“It isn’t easy to do that all of the time. They are relentless in their pursuit of contributing to the team play, so I was delighted with their quality, delighted with the performance, as I was with the rest of the team as well.”
The Barry manager was also delighted with the character shown by defender Luke Cooper following a mistake for Llanelli Town’s second goal of the evening as Lenny Evans fired home past Mike Lewis at the second time of asking after the 17-year-old’s shot was initially saved.
“I think when he makes mistakes, he feels disappointed in himself but that is only because he wants to do so well. He has been magnificent for us all year.
“I think he is disappointed with that but that can happen to anyone. It was nothing we said, nothing that came from the bench, the players all get together, they re-group, take it on the chin and go again.
“I think it showed a lot about Coops’ character late on in the game to see him leading and sort of getting on the ball again and that says a lot about him as a player.”
Jenner Park has become a fortress for Barry Town United this season and Chesterfield realises the importance of keeping up their incredible home form.
“It is very important to keep this run going now,” he said.
“Jenner Park is a nice place to come and play football. You get a good crowd, a good facility. You get brilliant support and a fantastic atmosphere. What we want is for the opposition to say it is a nice place to go but a tough place to come and visit.
“At the moment, that is the case. We have got to keep doing what we know we can do well.
“We have got to make sure we are humble and that we keep on working hard and we are now looking forward to a tough game away at Bala next week.”
Chesterfield also praised the performance of the fourth officials and referee as Andy Hill’s men ended the game with nine men after having Joe Clarke and Chris Thomas sent off, but did admit he felt sorry for his opposite number.
“I thought the fourth officials today were excellent to be honest with you,” said Chesterfield.
“It is easy for me to say that now but I thought they were excellent today, and I have to trust in their professionalism to get the decisions right. I feel for Andy, he is a good bloke. But in reality, I thought the referees were fantastic tonight.”
For all their brilliance at home, Chesterfield believes that Barry need to improve on their form away from home and is keen for his players to keep working hard ahead of a tough set of fixtures, where they will play three of the top four over the course of their next four fixtures.
“What I qualify this as is it has been a really good start from us,” admitted an elated Chesterfield.
“However, we have let ourselves down with a couple of performances away from home, away at Newtown and away at Llandudno, where we weren’t our best selves. But that keeps us humble, that keeps us working, that keeps us striving for better.”
(Featured image: Rhys Skinner)
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