Gould full of praise for Barry heroes
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Your support makes all the difference.Bobby Gould, the Welsh national team manager, yesterday paid tribute to Barry Town's "incredible" European exploits.
The League of Wales champions booked their place in the first round of the Uefa Cup in dramatic style on Tuesday, pulling back a 3-1 first- leg deficit against the Hungarian side, BVSC-Dreher, to go through 4-2 on penalties after extra time at a packed Jenner Park.
Gould, currently plotting Wales' path towards the 1998 World Cup finals in France, was full of admiration for Gary Barnett's team. "It was an incredible result, simply incredible," said Gould, who was unable to be amongst the 2,500 capacity crowd as he was on a scouting mission to watch Leeds play Sheffield Wednesday.
"It's a brilliant reward for Barry's ambition. They have gone full-time and their decision has been fully vindicated by what they have achieved in Europe. It goes without saying that this is a massive boost for the whole of Welsh football. I've said from day one when I took over as national manager that Wales could be one of the most exciting places to watch football, and that's what's happening."
Goals by Chris Pike (from the penalty spot), Dave O'Gorman and Craig Evans sent the second-leg tie into extra time and then penalties by Pike, Tony Bird, Gary Lloyd and Evans sealed victory against a team who were runners-up in the Hungarian League last season.
Barry, who beat the Latvian side Dinaburg Daugavpils in the previous round, go into tomorrow's draw along with the likes of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Celtic. However, Barnett, the 33-year-old former Oxford, Fulham, Charlton and Huddersfield midfielder, who only took over as player- manager eight weeks ago, has set his sights on Newcastle United.
Barnett wants to bring Kevin Keegan's multi-million pound squad to south Wales - and the club are ready to hire Cardiff Arms Park if needed. Their general manager, Chris Aust, said: "The ideal scenario would be for us to draw Newcastle and play the home leg at Cardiff Arms Park, where we would be guaranteed a big pay day." If they are pitted against one of the smaller clubs in the draw, though, they hope to continue playing at their Jenner Park ground and believe they can double their current capacity by the use of temporary seating.
Whatever their fate in Europe, Barry have another big day to look forward to. They will play Manchester United on Thursday 17 October in a memorial match for their former midfielder Matthew Holtham, who lost his life in a road accident earlier this year.
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