THREE away days in quick succession offer Barrow AFC the chance to open up and show their goal-scoring prowess.

Manager Paul Cox is hopeful the Bluebirds will be able to play to their ability as they make trips to Solihull, Chester and Maidstone over the next nine days.

Having found themselves coming up against teams happy to sit back and defend – occasionally with 10 men behind the ball – in recent weeks at Holker Street, Cox hopes AFC will see opponents playing a more expansive game on their travels.

That is something that could play into Barrow’s hands, after they found it difficult to break down the likes of Sutton United, Torquay United and Wrexham on their own patch over the past month, drawing all those matches and scoring only once.

“You hope you go to teams and, because they are playing at home, they will want to come and play against you,” said the AFC boss, who starts his road trip at Solihull Moors tomorrow (3pm kick-off).

“We’ve played against teams at Holker Street, some huge clubs, ex-Football League clubs, like Torquay and Dagenham and Redbridge, who come with a 4-5-1, trying to get a point here.

“Managing the expectation levels and managing the players is what I have to do. I have to manage these players to make sure they don’t get too down because of expectation levels.

“There seems to be an energy now where everyone seems to think we have a divine right to beat the Wrexhams, the Dagenhams, the Eastleighs. Everybody is after the same prize, and clubs like Tranmere, Dagenham, Lincoln will all bite and scratch to take everything they can.

“We’re earning the right. I think we’re at the start of a journey and we just have to make sure that, when we do fall off the path, we get back on it and carry on.

“Away, we’ll go and try to do what we do at home. We’ll go and attack and try to win a game. I’ve said right from the start of the season, and I’ve said it time and again, I don’t think we know how to defend – I don’t think we can go anywhere and play 4-5-1. We have always gone out to attack. Bristol Rovers away, we played 4-4-2 and went out to attack.

“We don’t know any other way and I don’t want us to be any other way. I would rather do that and go to try and win a game, than sit back and have a negative vision. It’s all about winning, I like winning football matches.

“These players have tried very hard tonight (against Wrexham) to try to win. I can’t fault them for that.”

Barrow’s attacking options have been boosted by the return of Ross Hannah from a hamstring injury – he was an unused substitute against Wrexham on Tuesday – while Inih Effiong impressed and created chances in his half-hour showing in midweek.

Byron Harrison has started training with his team-mates this week, and could well feature in at least one of the three away games before Barrow return to Holker Street to play Woking on April 8.

Jordan Williams will be back in the squad at Solihull, having served a two-game suspension for picking up 10 yellow cards this season

Such options could help the Bluebirds open teams up and score the goals which have often eluded them in recent weeks, and Cox said: “It’s a learning curve for us and we have to learn to adapt, to overcome, to be patient, to open up tight defences, to counter tight units and tight tactics.

“I’m not getting too down, it’s a learning curve for the football club. I keep saying, 15 or 16 months ago, we were relegation-bound and everybody saw us as an easy game.

“We’re disappointed now when we don’t beat Wrexham. We’re disappointed going away to Wrexham and not winning. This is how high the standards have been set at the football club, and I’ll continuously keep the standards high and keep us heading in the right direction.

“We need to be patient. We need to have a plan and we need to make sure that we don’t get too far ahead of ourselves and have it all break, because expectation levels are outstripping realism.”