MJ Williams Scores First Goal in Two Years for Barrow

MJ Williams admits it took him a second to process it. The ball hit the net, the roar went up, and Barrow’s captain had his first goal in almost two years.

“A bit of a shock really,” he told BBC Radio Cumbria. But it felt like more than just a surprise strike. It felt like a reset.

His opener in the 3-0 win over Sutton United did not only break his own drought; it lit the way to Adam Murray’s first victory as Bluebirds boss and finally delivered Barrow’s first three points of the season at the sixth attempt. After relegation from League Two, that matters. A lot.

Captain steps forward

Williams has never been the midfielder who lives off goals. He screens, he organises, he stitches the game together. Yet the 30-year-old knows the modern captain needs more than just presence and tidy passing.

“It is something I have always wanted to do is add goals,” he said. “But sometimes I don't find myself in the right positions.”

That is changing under Murray. Barrow have thrown serious work into set-pieces, and Williams is now arriving where it hurts, not just watching from the edge of the picture.

“We work a lot on set-pieces, so I am finding myself in better positions now. It is a massive part of our game and I want to add more goals to my game and hopefully I can this season.”

The goal against Sutton was the payoff: a rehearsed routine, a captain in the right area, a finish that carried as much relief as celebration.

A bond repaired, at least for a day

What happened after the final whistle mattered just as much. Players and supporters stayed behind, sharing the kind of full-time scenes that had been missing for too long.

“It has been tough for the fans, I've never wanted it to be like that, obviously going on from last season,” Williams said. “They have been through some tough times, as the club has, and to have that moment with them at the end of the game was massive.”

Relegation scars do not fade quickly. Neither does the memory of long, flat journeys home after another grim result. Murray has tried to tackle that head-on.

“Since the gaffer has come in, he has spoken about wanting to be all together and have that connection with the fans,” Williams explained. “I think in some of our performances we have deserved more from games. To get that 3-0 win and have the scenes at the end was brilliant for all of us.”

One win does not rewrite a season, but it can change the mood. And in Barrow’s dressing room, the mood has shifted.

From relief to responsibility

The players felt it the next morning.

“When you are not winning it is tough,” Williams admitted. “But to wake up on a Sunday knowing you have won on a Saturday is a bit of a relief. Last season we didn't have many of those feelings and it is not nice in football to be coming in when you are not winning.”

That sense of release has carried into the week.

“The feeling around the team has been brilliant this week,” he said. Training, by his account, has had a different edge, a lighter energy. The trick now is to turn that into something more concrete than just smiles at the training ground.

Because the schedule offers no time to bask.

Long road, big stakes

Next up is a long haul to Worthing and a test at Woodside Road that Williams already has circled in his mind.

“We all know it is a long journey but it is a massive game for us,” he said. No downplaying, no caveats. “It will be a big week for us, we need to go there and put on a good performance.”

There is no appetite inside that dressing room for excuses about mileage or miles on the clock.

“There are no excuses in this game, we will get down there, prepare right and go there with confidence after that first win we have had.”

That confidence is fragile but precious. Barrow have spent too long without it to waste it now.

“This week has been brilliant for all of us,” Williams added, before snapping back to the task ahead. “But it is important now that we get back on it on Saturday and get a massive three points.”

His own goal may have been a surprise. The next step cannot be.