Barrow AFC manager Ian Evatt wants his side to stop their habit of drifting out of games and put together a 90-minute performance, starting with Saturday’s match at Dover Athletic.

The Bluebirds are preparing for their longest away journey of the season, with the game at the Crabble Athletic Ground representing a 730-mile round trip.

They have still to win on the road in the National League this season, although they came within a whisker of doing so in their last away game, against Boreham Wood two weeks ago.

If they are to break their duck this time, however, they will have to avoid going through the sort of careless spell that cost them so dearly either side of half-time against Gateshead on Tuesday night.

Had they held on for another 15 seconds at in that match at Holker Street, Barrow would have had a half-time lead they thoroughly deserved, as they dominated the first half.

Evatt said: “We need to go there and be the best we can be, like we have been doing, but playing for 90 minutes, instead of spells of 25, 30 minutes before we drift out of it and then come back in it.

“We need to put together 90-minute performances and that starts Saturday.

“We need to get this monkey off our back with the away win and then start backing victories up because it’s so frustrating when we’re almost there, but not quite, at the minute.”

Evatt felt as though what AFC experienced against Gateshead three days ago was the same old story told once too often.

He had hoped what had happened in the win over Maidenhead last Saturday, where his players were finally properly rewarded for their efforts with their first win in six games, was the base to build the rest of the season on.

Instead, Bluebirds supporters will now be hoping it’s a case of lessons at last being learned when they travel down to Kent at the weekend.

Evatt said: “We’ve had a few harsh lessons, probably about three or four of them, which is too often now.

“Tuesday was a game where we’ve dominated, pretty much, and we’ve been caught with two sucker-punches and that’s got to change.

“The first half-hour from that game was us in a nutshell – we played some great football and we scored a fantastic goal, but we’ve got to put together 90-minute performances and, at the moment, we’re not doing that.”

Meanwhile, Evatt had under-21 coach Craig Rutherford in the dugout for the Gateshead match, as he continues to try and forge a closer link between the club’s first team and its academy.

“I think it’s important that Craig comes and he sees what we do, he sees how the team plays at home, how I want them to play and what I expect of my players,” Evatt said.

“We want to form a really close bond between the under-21s, as I’ve said many times, because I think it’s important for the future for the club, with this being such a big area.

“We need to tap into the best players around this area and get them developed for Barrow AFC.

“Craig’s a big part of that – he’s a fantastic young coach, who wants to learn all the time, so it’s great that we can use him to help us, moving forwards.”