BRIG manager Tony Greenwood believes his side's forthcoming FA Cup clash with Cambridge is distracting his team from Unibond Premier League success.

Following a 0-0 draw with Leek and 3-2 defeat to Barrow at Irongate this week, Tony said: "All eyes are on the FA Cup at the moment - but they shouldn't be.

"We have another two league games before the Cambridge tie - to be honest, I think the cup run is affecting our league form this season.

"It is a little bit worrying with our slide into the bottom half of the table, despite the fact we have games in hand.

"In the end, it's what you want - to progress in the cup or climb up the league.

"I don't think the players are concerned that if we win the League, we can't go up to the Conference - we've done it before when we realised we couldn't go up. They want to win every game they play."

An early period of pressure from Brig against Barrow saw many chances go begging. Brig controlled the game for the first 20 minutes and Dave Carroll was on the score-sheet after just two - but chances were going begging.

As Barrow slowly clawed their way back into the game, they looked more and more like scoring and on 30 minutes, the equaliser arrived, Neil Doherty slotting the ball home from close range.

Ten minutes later, Brig 'keeper Craig Dootson was left stranded by a corner, which Mickey Waller slammed in.

Barrow made the points safe in the second half with a 70th minute close-range effort from Nick Peverill.

The Barrow goal was then put under siege as Brig fought back and Carroll got his second on 80 minutes, smashing the ball home from ten yards out.

But the damage had already done and despite finishing the stronger side, Brig failed to level the score.

Tony said: "I thought we lost the match in the first 25 minutes when we didn't finish off any chances.

"We battered them but couldn't put the ball in the back of the net. If we'd have put two or three away, we could have slowed down and played with confidence, but the tables turned and we ended up 2-1 down.

"When we went 3-1 down, we realised what was going on and got back into the game."

A strong defensive display from the Irongate outfit earned them a point against Leek last weekend.

The best chance of the match fell to Nigel Greenwood, who had his shot blocked by Mark Statham. Scott Dundas proved a tricky customer, almost putting the visitors in front at the end of the first half, and had two efforts blocked by an in-form Dootson in the dying seconds of the game.

Brig have signed a few stars in the past - so when the name Warren Beattie appears on the team sheet, no one should be too surprised!

The 26-year-old striker and right winger arrived from Fulwood amateurs on Tuesday to give Tony Greenwood some more options. The manager said: "We're going to have a look at Warren during the next couple of months to see what he can do."

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