Old McDonald Works his Charm

Gillingham (A) - EFL League 2 - 13th December 2025

There is a famous saying that "there are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen" that may or may not have been coined by Vladimir Lenin or George Galloway, depending. It has most certainly been a case of the latter at Barrow AFC where the small matter of disposing of the services of Head Coach Andy Whing took place out of the second of a trio of crucial fixtures that he wasn't afforded the time to see out, having been relieved of his duties on Wednesday afternoon. There have been emergency podcasts, hastily revised match reports and constant refreshing of "odds checker" which have been as poorly informed as they were on the countless occasions we have changed manager, albeit with zero mention of the Ilkeston Town manager this time around.

Step forward Neil McDonald, born in Wallsend (like my father) and formerly of the famous Wallsend Boys Club (unlike my father). Previously trusty lieutenant to Sam Allardyce and once upon a time manager of Carlisle United, this is his third stint at Holker Street, having supported Rob Kelly and Phil Brown here a couple of years ago. He is the father of tennis player, Ella McDonald, and the first tennis-related incoming here since Courtney Duffus' dalliance with former British Number One, Heather Watson.

And he did appear to be trying to serve up something different, compared to Tuesday evening, with the Bluebirds lining up in a good old fashioned 4-4-2 formation with Charlie Raglan surprisingly being stationed at right back whilst Lewis Shipley and Kane Hemmings made welcome returns to the fold to freshen up the side. Regardless, an improved performance was a must, coming up against draw specialists Gillingham, with manager (and Justin Hawkins impersonator) Gareth Ainsworth back in the home dugout for the first time in a while having recovered from a heart procedure. He will have been hopeful for a rare victory against a beleaguered Barrow side bereft of confidence.

It lasted circa 25 minutes as a hoof forward was defended clumsily in the far corner which resulted in the Gillingham player getting away to play a centre into the penalty area which was bundled into the back of his own net by the unfortunate Jack Earing in front of the giant empty temporary / permanent stand. The manner of how Gillingham took the lead was reflected by the bloke on the Public Address system who very sheepishly piped up with "Goal for Gillingham and, it wasn't a Gillingham player, it was the Barrow player", at odds with Zombie Nation blaring out over the speakers just beforehand. It was to go from bad to worse shortly thereafter when Aaron Rowe sent right back Charlie Raglan into the River Medway and stroked the ball past Wyll Stanway. This was closely followed by an Elliott Nevitt chance resulting in him having a lovely lie down right in the back of the onion bag, requesting medical assistance to be extracted out of it. McDonald responded soon after by reverting to a 3-5-2 system for the remaining 15 minutes with Raglan restored to his central defensive berth which appeared to stem the tide. However, an xG of 0.07 meant we were essentially non-existent in attack, as on many occasions this season. One thing that was certain, yet again, was the need for an improved 45 minutes from a befuddled group of players.

The perfect response was made within the hour mark as a sumptuous Tom Barkhuizen cross was expertly directed by Josh Gordon past Gills' second choice goalkeeper into the back of the net; get in! Scott Smith and Connor Mahoney were already being lined up to come on regardless and they duly swapped places with Earing and Barkhuizen, the latter surely whipping out a metaphorical cigar, plonking himself on the bench and proclaiming "my job here is done". We had a foothold in the game as well as fresh legs and half an hour set aside to fully reverse the deficit.

Gills responded with a couple of efforts, one of which resulted in a good save from Stanway in front of a packed home end. Whilst Whitfield prompted a save from Turner, shortly before Elliot Newby replaced Ben Jackson on the 72nd minute, Barrow continued to probe, winning a corner, whilst Gordon shot narrowly wide having been supplied by an industrious Shipley, whose absence in the past two matches is ageing like an on the turn Stilton that has been left on top of a radiator. David Worrall-Thompson was then brought on for Ben Whitfield with ten minutes to go and Barrow in the ascendency.

Soon after, it was a blocked Worrall shot that fell to Charlie McCann, he played in an unmarked Scott Smith, whose low centre was deflected by a Gillingham defender into the path of Josh Gordon who managed to nudge the ball into the back of the net to silence Priestfield. It was either a state of disbelief, the low numbers or fear that the goal would be chalked off but after a longer-than-usual wait, the 76 hardy souls in the away end did a celebration much to the annoyance of a pedantic Gillingham stewarding team who had taken great joy in pulling up supporters for incredibly minor indiscretions throughout the afternoon's proceedings.

The stewards were probably more annoyed than the players given the Gillingham response in the aftermath. Neil McDonald's beleaguered Bluebirds could have easily capped off a ridiculous week with three points on another day with efforts from Newby, Gordon and MJ Williams alongside a stoppage time corner almost putting the cherry on top of the most deliciously unlikely of comebacks in the garden of England. However, we had to settle for a hard earned and what looked at one time, a highly unlikely, point against a Gillingham side that clearly have some talented players but are presently looking much less than the sum of their parts.

As for the football, the result allows us to salvage some pride and put behind us what was unquestionably one of the more challenging weeks at our Mancunian training HQ. We are no nearer to knowing who our new Head Coach will be and, barring what at the time of writing would look like an unlikely turn of events, it will be Neil McDonald in the dugout for the Black Eye Friday showdown with an improved Cheltenham Town side under the lights at Holker Street. The immediate aim being to try and coax a good performance out of his players which encompasses most of the 90 minutes. That can be helped by playing the same formation for the 90 minutes, we got away with one today, Charlie Raglan cannot be deployed at right back. Any system that we play for now will have to contain some square pegs in round holes but the 3-5-2, for all its flaws, is presently the best way of negating this until, the January window flies open (or whatever the inverse of slamming shut is, these days).

All I want for Christmas is some square pegs in square holes and three points against Cheltenham Town; yes please.

November / December 2025

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