BARROW AFC manager Paul Cox faces one of his toughest opponents tomorrow, when he goes head-to-head with Dagenham and Redbridge boss John Still.

The duo have both won the National League in the past – with Cox picking out the Daggers as real promotion contenders in pre-season almost purely on the back of Still being back at the club.

Both managers have set their stall out in the first half of the season to add to their promotion tallies from the Conference, with Dagenham third and Barrow fourth after 21 matches ahead of this weekend.

Cox expects a tough examination of Barrow’s credentials by a side relegated from League Two last season, and praised his opposite number once more ahead of the meeting.

“John has been there, done it, seen it,” said Cox. “He hasn’t just bought the t-shirt, he made the t-shirt at this level of football.

“He’s had three promotions from this league (with Maidstone, Dagenham and Luton Town), and if you don’t respect people like him, you don’t deserve to be in the game.

“We know what the game is going to be about. You look at John’s teams and they are always ultra-competitive. But, once again, we want to concentrate on what we are, on what we do, and we want to go down there with a positive mind-set and we want to affect the game.

“This team doesn’t know how to sit back and defend. By that, I mean we can’t go somewhere and just set up not to lose. We’re better when we have a go at teams and sometimes take a few chances. That’s what we’re going to do.

“It’s a tough game, but we’ve been to Forest Green, we’ve been to Lincoln. This team understands the concept of playing at home, but it also understands the concept of playing away. We’ll go down there with a positive mind-set and we will try and win – that’s all we can do.”

Barrow head to Dagenham and Redbridge on the back of 16 games unbeaten in the National League – 20 matches in all competitions – and with Cox walking with an extra bounce in his step.

Jordan Williams added to his collection of stunning goals in the midweek win over Guiseley – and Byron Harrison notched his 14th and 15th goals of the season – which helped AFC climb to fourth in the table.

The Daggers are one of only three sides above them – though their last home game resulted in a 5-0 defeat against Gateshead – and it will be a hard task for the Bluebirds to keep up their record-breaking run.

Cox knows it will not last forever, but hopes it can still go on for some time, while he and the team are enjoying themselves.

“I’ve never smiled so much on the touchline as I have been,” he added. “We know that it’s not going to last forever, but I’ve challenged to boys to go another 16 games unbeaten in the league. These boys are quite capable of doing that. There will be outside factors that affect it, factors not within our control, but that’s where I’ve got to try and manage it.

“I tried to give one or two a little bit of a breather on Tuesday night (when Harrison, Williams and Ryan Yates were substituted in the final 20 minutes) and I tried to get some fresh legs on to freshen it up (Akil Wright, Andy Haworth and Ross Hannah came off the bench). It’s so important now that we hang in there with these big boys and see where we are come Christmas-time.”