A big part of Barrow AFC’s successful switch to being a possession-based team has been the partnership in midfield between Jason Taylor and John Rooney and the way they both complement each other.

Both players arrived during the summer, from AFC Fylde and Guiseley, respectively, and they’ve brought different strengths that have made them into an effective pairing.

Rather than both trying to add the same thing to the team, a la Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, Taylor mainly screens the back four and acts as a conduit between defence and attack.

This has freed Rooney to push higher up the pitch when the Bluebirds are in possession and, with the two of them comfortable on the ball, they play a key role in helping them often dominate in that area.

What’s more, they’re two of the more experienced heads in Ian Evatt’s young squad, with Taylor even captaining the side this season in the absence of regular skipper Josh Granite.

Taylor said: “Obviously myself and Roons have played in the majority of the games together and we feel like we’ve hit it off.

“We complement each other quite well and we both work really hard, so hopefully we can be that spine of the team.

“There’s good competition for places, though, so it keeps us on our toes week in week out.

“I feel like we’ve been getting the right balance when we play together – we started the season playing more of a 4-3-3 before moving to a 4-2-3-1, so it’s nice that we’re flexible in the systems we’ve got.

“It feels like we’ve done reasonably well together, me and Roons.”

After playing a key role in Barrow’s 2-0 victory at Dover Athletic, in which Evatt’s side had 83 per cent possession, Taylor is aiming at bringing another three points back to Cumbria from tomorrow’s match at Bromley.

The 31-year-old arguably had more touches than any other player as the Bluebirds broke their away-day duck two weeks ago, although he is modest about his contribution that day.

“I’ve been in teams that have kept the ball before, but Dover didn’t really lay a glove on us the other weekend,” Taylor said.

“That was surprising, although maybe it was because they were a bit low on confidence or just that they caught us on a good day.

“We had a lot of the ball then and in the end our pressure told and we managed to get a couple of goals, but it could have been a few more if we were more ruthless.

“We need to start developing that ruthless streak in us throughout the team, really, by keeping teams out at one end and putting away chances at the other end.

“In our last game against Sutton, we hung on in the end, but if you look back through the game we should have had three or four more.”