'ANYTHING can happen' is the message from Barrow AFC full-back Shaun Beeley to his Bluebirds team-mates as they prepare to face League One Bristol Rovers in the FA Cup.

The experienced 28-year-old defender has taken on The Gas many times during a playing career which has seen him turn out for the likes of Fleetwood Town and Morecambe in the Football League.

He knows Rovers will be tough opposition at their Memorial Stadium home on Sunday, but is also confident AFC have it within them to pull off an upset against a side two divisions further up the footballing pyramid.

“Against Bristol, it will be a tough game,” said Beeley, who joined Barrow from Morecambe in the summer, and who has been first-choice in the right-back role since then. “I played there last year and they gave us a tough time – I'm expecting the same from them this year.

“It will be a tough place to go. The fans get behind them, and they are normally quite a free-flowing team, so they will come at us. It will be a tough game, but hopefully it's a situation we can rise to, and we will see what happens.

“If the lads back themselves, there shouldn't be too much of a difference between the sides. Mindset-wise, sometimes you can achieve that little bit more if you are the underdog just by pushing a little bit more and finding that extra one per cent.

“With the lads we have got, anything can happen. We just have to keep a positive mindset and see what happens.”

Barrow will see a reversal of their role going into the match against The Pirates from that they took on in the last round.

The Bluebirds – unbeaten in 21 games in all competitions and fourth in the National League – sat three divisions higher than Southern League Division One South and West outfit Taunton Town, but were still taken to a replay and had to fight hard for a 2-1 win under the floodlights at Holker Street.

This time, however, it is Barrow who are the underdogs, and who will be looking to scare their opponents just as Taunton did when they twice led in the initial first-round tie at the Viridor Stadium.

Beeley is confident in their ability to do just that, and said: “We were overjoyed to have got through – it was quite a tough game, it's always tough when you are playing lower-league opposition. It was a good result.

“Taunton did very well against us – you wouldn't have guess they were a lower-league team. I thought they played very well.

“When we go to Bristol, if we can batter them in the same way Taunton did to us, if not more so, then anything can happen. It's the FA Cup and that's the magic of the FA Cup.

“We've just got to remain positive and have the belief that we can go and do things.”