Last updated at 14:26, Tuesday, 27 March 2012

BARROW AFC manager Dave Bayliss has told his players to man-up.

KEEP THE FAITH: Dave Bayliss

The Bluebirds have lost their last five Blue Square Bet Premier games in a row, conceding 15 goals and failing to score themselves in the process.

Their last two matches have ended in a humiliating 7-0 defeat at Mansfield Town and a terrible 4-0 home loss against Braintree. It is a run of form that has seen Barrow fall away from the play-off picture to 13th in the table, with six games left to play.

Next for the Bluebirds is a weekend trip to 10th-placed Forest Green Rovers, who on Saturday won 2-1 at high-flying Wrexham and are due to visit AFC Telford United tonight.

Bayliss said: “I’m determined that we will win our next game.

“The players will work really hard in training this week, step up and be men.

“That’s what we said at half-time on Saturday (when Barrow were 3-0 down to Braintree), that you have to man-up and get on with it.

“If we acquit ourselves like we did against Braintree we will go down there and get battered, so we have to make sure we go there as a group of men.

“Yes, we are a young side but the only way they will get better and learn is by putting in performances week-in, week-out.

“As youngsters, performances will be a bit up and down but we have to step up and be men very quickly.”

Barrow drew 1-1 with Forest Green at Furness Building Society Stadium a month ago, when Richie Baker missed a last-gasp penalty for the hosts.

Bayliss said: “Every game is hard in this league.

“Forest Green are a good side, but we should have beaten them at home, when we missed good chances and a penalty in the last minute.”

First published at 13:08, Tuesday, 27 March 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk