BARROW AFC have made quick progress to ensure problems with their Holker Street stadium do not thwart their National League play-off ambitions.

The club were informed by the Football League this week that they need to produce a new report on proposed improvements to the ground to take capacity above 5,000 .

They have been given a deadline of April 6 to complete an engineering survey, have the capacity recalculated based on that survey and have it rubber-stamped by Barrow Borough Council.

If they fail to do so, they will be excluded from the play-offs and denied a chance of promotion.

The three-week time-frame was imposed on the club on Wednesday, but Barrow chief executive Austin Straker said major strides have already been made – and he hopes the work could even be completed by the end of next week.

An engineering firm have been appointed to carry out the structural survey and produce designs, while positive talks with the council have given the AFC director hope there will be no issues.

He said: “We've engaged a local company now to do the engineering survey and come up with structural design drawings. They have been once for a visual inspection and they will be coming back with some questions they need to ask.

“They are happy to be on board and they were involved in the past with the club, so they are aware of what is underneath there, which is a big step forward. That should mean they don't have do do any drilling, or it will be minimal if it is needed.

“We have tracked down an expert in assessing ground safety, who will come in next week to recalculate any missing figures and any updated figures from the last time it was done.

“He will be here on Tuesday. It will take him a day to do the measuring and the calculations and to write a brief report.

“The borough council and the Safety Advisory Group are both on board with us. The Sports Grounds Safety Authority, who they report to, I've spoken with them as well and they are happy with what we are doing. They did apologise they couldn't verify our previous work.

“I've had numerous conversations with numerous people, but I do feel that, probably by the end of next week, we will have the figures together.

“I hope by Friday we will have an update and everything will be hunky-dory.

“Andrew Casson (son of AFC owner Paul and a club official) has done a fair bit of work in the background on the calculations and drawings for this, but it just needs to all be brought together and for the case to be presented to the Sports Grounds Safety Authority.

“They have said they know the people we are dealing with and they know what our plans were. The thing that fell short was that they didn't think we had verified and showed them our calculations. As an ex-maths teacher, I've been hoisted on my own petard for not showing my working out.”