Toolstation NCEL Division One
- Star player Danny Barlow is leaving Penistone to go work and play in Australia.
- Penistone do not have a fixture this weekend.
- Ian Richards insists that the play-offs are still within Penistone’s reach.
Danny Barlow (right) is the best player that Penistone chief Ian Richards has ever managed. Picture: Mark Parsons
Life will go on without playmaker Danny Barlow at play-offs chasing Penistone Church, Ian Richards has said.
Penistone have been boosted by the news that Ollie Fearon has turned down a “substantial offer” from Rudy Funk’s AFC Mansfield, but Barlow is definitely leaving as he is heading to work and play in Australia. The former Shaw Lane Aquaforce player was a ‘coup’ signing for Penistone earlier this season and he leaves after the Rossington Main game a week tomorrow.
“He was excellent on Wednesday night and he is a difficult player to replace,” Richards said. “There isn’t many attacking midfielders, who can change a game with a piece of brilliance, of his type around.
“It has been a real pleasure to manage him. For talent and technical ability he is the best player I have ever managed. Just to have him here for no financial reward, it is a pleasure to have him and great for the club. He doesn’t get paid and when he signed, he had got to the stage where he had fallen out with football and he just needed to feel loved and wanted. We built our team around him and he has been excellent for us.
“He’s got the opportunity in Australia and you can’t fault the lad. He’s 24, single so I wish him all the best. We will manage without him. We’ll just have to change our style of play. Without him dictating our play, we’ll look at different ways of playing. We have got a good squad. Jack Moore will come in, my brother (Duncan) will come back from injury so we will have quality in midfield. Danny will just be a loss, but he would be a loss to any to team.”
Although their hopes took a hit on Wednesday night in the 5-4 defeat to Selby Town, Penistone remain in the hunt for a place in the coveted top six. Church, who do not play this weekend, are eighth – a point behind crisis club Hull United, who occupy the last play-offs spot with three games in hand.
“Wednesday night is a dent, but there are 13 games to go and 39 points up for grabs,” Richards said. “We have our own internal target of points that we think will get us into the play-offs. We will keep going for that until it is mathematically impossible.
“Wednesday night was really a must-win game because we got a good result against Hallam, where we actually defended strongly and now we have a ten day break where some teams will play two games. “The gap could become bigger, but you saw Glasshoughton beating Hallam and Hull deducted points so there is mileage left it in.”