Blues boss pleased to put midweek struggles behind them by beating Burnham

Barking joint-manager Glen Golby admits it was pleasing to overcome a furstrating midweek result with a 2-1 win at Burnham Ramblers on Saturday.

The Blues conceded a last-minute equaliser at bottom club Newham on Wednesday in a match that ended 3-3 despite the sides being at opposite ends of the table.

And the Mayesbrook Park club did not have it all their own way at Ramblers at the weekend, having to come from behind to win thanks to goals form Joe Pearman and Joe Staunton.

It’s a result that keeps Barking third in the Essex Senior League and Golby was relieved to get a positive result after throwing away two points in their previous game.

“Wednesday at Newham was a bad day at the office. Myself and (fellow joint-manager) Steve Willis will hold our hands up and admit we got the tactics wrong, but there were a few players who may have been complacent,” said Golby. “Credit to Newham, they probably could have won.

“We told the boys before the game that there was a group of around 20 fans who had pooled together to get a man of the match award and that they needed to repay them.

“First half, the boys didn’t give the fans the display they deserved, but the second half was a lot better and thankfully we got the win.”

Indeed it was a slow start for the Blues as they fell behind in the 27th minute to Ben Austin’s opener for Burnham, who have been floating around in midtable this season after relegation from the Ryman North.

Prior to the game, Golby said he had not been surprised by Ramblers’ struggles with a high turnover of players in the summer, and after the match revealed he was not shocked by how well they started against Barking.

“Burnham are a young side with a few experienced heads, so I knew they were going to be very athletic. The best way to nullify a team like that is with an early goal to knock the wind out of their sails, but we didn’t get that,” he added.

“We gave them too much time on the ball and while we could have equalised just before half time, it would have been undeserved as they were by far the better team.

“Come 60 or 70 minutes into the game, I knew that was when they would start flagging and it proved the case. It was about pushing on after that, which is what we did.”

As for the manner of the win, Barking scored twice in the final 20 minutes to snatch the victory and Golby hopes that inspires his team to better things as the title race heats up.

“It is pleasing to come from behind, but I would take any goal at the minute! For the boys to get home, it show they can’t lumber through matches and have to give it their all over 90 minutes.

“The boys who came on did well and it was nice to see that all of them responded well to our half time team talk.”