BARROW AFC are 'working furiously' to bolster a threadbare squad with little over a week to go before the start of the National League season.

Richie Bennett became the third high-profile Bluebirds departure of the summer when he joined Carlisle on Tuesday night for a fee of around £50,000 – which matched the release clause in his contract.

Bennett followed Jordan Williams and Nick Anderton in leaving AFC for the Football League, with little incoming transfer activity in the interim.

This has left Barrow with 15 players on the books – though Joel Dixon and Andy Parry, while injured are thought to be on short-term deals.

Only 13 of those will be fit to feature when the National League season starts at Dagenham and Redbridge next weekend, with Byron Harrison recovering from ankle surgery and fellow front-man Dan Cockerline being nursed back to fitness following a knee operation at the end of last year.

A potential move for former Celtic stopper Colin McCabe has ended – with Dixon having been given a better-than-expected fitness report on his visit to St George's Park last week and now being seen as the club's second keeper.

But French trialist Donovan Makoma, whose name was on the team-sheet for Tuesday night's 2-1 pre-season win over Lancaster City, is still a possible recruit. Other trialists have also featured regularly and could be given deals.

Barrow managing director Andrew Casson recognised the urgency of bringing in players immediately, hoping to have 'four or five' in place before Tuesday's final friendly at Witton Albion, some even for Saturday's trip to Stockport County.

“I've spoken to Paul Ogden (AFC's chief scout) about four or five targets,” he said. “These are legitimate candidates for us. Hopefully, we can get a couple of them done in the next couple of days, and the bulk of them done before the Witton game.

“Everyone is working furiously behind the scenes to get everything over the line.”

Manager Paul Casson was not at Giant Axe for Tuesday's pre-season match against Lancaster – with Micky Moore again leading the side as David Fitzpatrick and Harry Panayiotou netted – as he was scouting other potential recruits. A similar trip to Wales last week did not lead to any moves.