PROUD Pete Wild praised his supersubs after Barrow maintained their perfect start to the season.

The Bluebirds were made to work for their second win of the season against tough to crack ten-man Sutton United at Holker Street.

Harry Smith was given his marching orders for a nasty off-the-ball 13th-minute stamp on Tom White.

White then made the mistake for Lee Angol to open the scoring in the first half.

And then it was a case of whether or not the front-footed Bluebirds could break down the visitor’s defence.

Wild’s subs changed the game as Sam Foley came off the bench to play through Emile Acquah to level 11 minutes from time.

And fellow replacement Jamie Proctor popped up with the welcome winner three minutes later to secure a well-earned three points.

“You look at your subs and we’ve spoken about this with the squad about having starters and finishers,” said Wild.

“Sometimes you’ll start and it’s hard graft, but sometimes you’ll come on after the game’s opened up to finish the game and you probably have a bigger part to play as a sub to finish the game.

“I thought the subs really influenced the game and I’m really pleased with the way they have got us three points.

“At half-time the shout was to play our way and even if it takes until 70 or 80 minutes to get the goal, keep being us. The really pleasing thing was we did that.

“Don’t get me wrong, when you’ve got a team who’s sat in and bedded in, fair play to Sutton I thought they defended for their lives and grafted hard for their team, it’s very hard to break down.

“You’ve got to wait for those opportunities and build pressure and we did that and it came off for us.

“It’s a mixture of being calm and ensuring we keep the pressure on.

“I think that comes from our recruitment because you’ve got experience in your squad. You’re bringing Jamie Proctor on, you’re bringing Sam Foley on, they are real experienced players who know how to deal with these situations and they’re coming on, their talking, their moving and helping the other players.

“I’m really pleased with the team effort, their desire and their focus in what ended up being a tough tactical game.”

White’s hesitancy could have cost his side dearly, but ultimately their quality prevailed in the final quarter of an hour.

And Wild was quick to back his under-fire player.

“After the red card it felt like the players thought we needed to win it in the next ten minutes,” added Wild.

“We make a mistake, it is what it is. Tom’s a great player, a great lad and done so many great things for us and unfortunately he’s made a mistake which has led to a goal. That’s football.

“From there on in it was all about us. We stuck to our task well, we were patient and I'm delighted."