"It was a coach's error,'' Ivers said.

With the Barbarians down on numbers due to players either injured or unavailable, Ivers took the field in the first grade game as a replacement with six minutes remaining.

"Then a player ran straight around me and scored the winning goal,'' he said.

However, despite the loss Ivers said he was 'ecstatic' with the performance of his players and said they were desparately unlucky not to share the points with last year's grand finalists.

"We again had to reshuffle the midfield because we had players out,'' he said.

"But I couldn't fault the commitment the players put in. It was a great effort.''

He said Jayden Mounsey and Grant Souters were outstanding while goalkeeper Adam Lydiate produced some copybook saves that kept the Barbarians in the contest. Lydiate was named player of the match for the Barbarians.

Old Bar had their troubles before the game, losing Paul Smith and Brad Turner to injury while Miles Thorton, one of the best in the opening encounter of the season, was unavailable.

The Barbarians have now lost both matches this year by a single goal. While the performances have been encouraging, Ivers concedes the Barbarians need to break their duck on Saturday in the home match against Kempsey Saints.

"Luckily the other results have gone our way and we're still in touch with the leaders, but we definitely need the three points this weekend,'' Ivers said.

Wallis Lake won the reserve grade 9-0 after leading 7-0 at the break.