SIMON Grand will be pleased to be on the same side as manager Paul Cox tomorrow, having crossed swords with the new Barrow manager’s teams in the past.

The centre-back was part of the Southport side that experienced mixed success against Cox’s Mansfield Town between between 2011 and 2014 – earning two league wins and suffering two defeats.

Now Grand finds himself as one of Cox’s players as the Nottingham-born man took the Holker Street managerial reins on Monday, before conducting his first training session yesterday.

Grand, who was transfer-listed by departed AFC manager Darren Edmondson around six weeks ago, will be hoping to be included in Cox’s first Barrow starting-11 tomorrow when Woking will be in town (3pm kick-off).

“I’ve never worked with him, but I’ve played against his teams before and you always knew you were in for a tough game when you faced one of his teams,” said Grand.

“Whenever we’ve played against him, I’ve never come across opposition players who just roll over and die.

“He seems to have that winning mentality about him and wherever he’s been he’s had success.

“Moving forward, that’s exactly what we need at the club and everyone’s looking forward to getting involved straight away.”

Woking are subject to a potential takeover by a local consortium headed by Ashley Read.

On the field they head into tomorrow’s clash in confident mood after recording their second successive win in midweek, with a thumping 4-1 home victory over Tranmere, although they have won just three of their 10 away league games this season.

Woking boast the division’s seventh-best attacking record, having netted 36 goals in 22 games, with John Goddard and Dan Holman scoring close to 20 goals between them.

Meanwhile, Barrow possess the third-worst National League defensive record, shipping 43 goals this term already, and having lost four of their last five league games.

Asked what style of football Cox could try and cultivate from his players, Grand added: “To be honest, I think it’s (Cox’s style of football) been varied at different clubs. I think he’s had a bit of a label of producing direct football or a long-ball type of game.

“But, saying that, from playing against his teams a couple of times I think it depends on what players you have in your squad as well.

“When he was at Mansfield, the certain type of players he had there, he adapted to use them to get the best out of them.

“Whatever he decides to do with us, with the way results are going at the minute, there are a couple of things he’ll have to address straight away and try and put right on the training pitch before anything else.

“At the moment it’s a case of shutting up shop at the back and scoring more goals up top – it’s not rocket science.

“As soon as you can start doing that and picking up results then I think you can start worrying about style of play after that.

“Let’s just get some wins on the board.”

Barrow sit 16th in the National League table – trailing 12th-placed Woking by three points and the final play-off spot by 11.

Grand skippered the Bluebirds to the Conference North title last season.

With Barrow seeking to climb the table under Cox’s leadership, Grand said: “We’ve seen the kind of runs we had last year with the players we had.

“The league is so tight, look where we are now in terms of points off the play-offs places and points away from the relegation zone, it’s really tight.

“I think consistency has to be brought in more than anything else and if we can just get a little run going, three wins can shoot you up the table and three defeats could drag you down into trouble.

“We need to get that consistency and then there’s no reason why we can’t shoot further up the table.”

With Barrow’s squad going through a period of transition, following Cox’s appointment, Grand also reflected on Edmondson’s departure.

He said: “It’s hard, it’s tough – whenever a manager goes.

“But it’s not just any manager it’s one that has brought such success in such recent times.

“Its like going from such a high to such a low, so it’s a massive disappointment no matter whether players were in or out of his plans.

“Anyone that was involved with him will be disappointed and sad to see him go I would imagine.

“I can tell you this now, he didn’t lose the dressing room and that’s coming from me, who was told that I was not in his plans.

“I was giving 100 per cent for the gaffer. But did we as players let him down?

“If you’re the manager, you’ve got to say ‘yes’ because we’re the ones who keep you in a job and get you success.

“So, of course, we will all hold our hands up and we all know that it’s not been good enough recently.”