Sharpe given valuable '˜breathing space'

Sharpe is closing in on naming a successor to Gary Caldwell, who was relieved from his duties exactly a week ago.

Warren Joyce, the Manchester United Under-21 boss, remains the red-hot favourite for the vacancy, having been as short as 1/8 with some bookmakers since the weekend.

In the meantime, Barrow continues to steer the ship on a caretaker basis, and guided the side to only their third victory of the campaign against the Bluebirds in a real tense encounter.

That closed the gap between third-bottom Latics and fourth-bottom Cardiff to just a single point, a welcome boost after a testing week all round.

“I’m being kept informed, but obviously things are a bit up in the air at the moment,” Barrow told the Evening Post.

“The club obviously have to get it right, and if Saturday’s win gives them a little bit of breathing space, then all well and good.

“Onwards and upwards now, and we’ll see who’s in the manager’s office come the end of the week.”

On-loan Cardiff striker Adam Le Fondre was unable to play against his parent club due to the terms of his deal, but he says it’s business as usual for the players on the training ground while important decisions are being made at boardroom level.

“All we can do is keep trying to impress every day, no matter who is in charge,” Le Fondre revealed.

“Everything comes from the training ground, you train as you play, and you take it from there.

“As players, there’s no other way to go about it other than focusing on your own job – that’s all you can do.

“You can’t just sit here and mope around, you have to get on with it.

“That’s life, everything keeps on moving forwards.

“If you stand still, then things pass you by, and we can’t afford to do that in the position we’re in.

“We can’t afford to be going through games feeling sorry for ourselves.

“We have to work even harder and try to keep picking up positive results on the field.”