PAUL Cox hailed a ‘massive’ result for Barrow AFC as they beat promotion rivals Dagenham and Redbridge 2-1.

Moussa Diarra netted a second-half winner to complete a comeback from a goal down and keep AFC in touch with the National League play-offs.

With rivals Gateshead, Aldershot and Dover all winning, it was a key triumph for the Bluebirds, who closed to within six points of their fourth-placed rivals.

“It’s massive – and fully-deserved,” Cox said after the victory. “I don’t think anyone could complain about the result.

“We played well, played some good stuff, and it was nice to see us relaxed a little bit with the ball.

“I thought we could have come in at half-time maybe 3-1 to the good – how Richie Bennett missed the header and Bully missed the one where he had to roll it past the keeper, I don’t know.

“In the second half we kept up the tempo, and I don’t think anyone could complain that it was a fully-deserved result.”

He added: “All the results, if we had lost today, would have gone against us. But all we can do is keep hanging in there. We’ve got a tough one on Tuesday again, and what I want to see from the boys is for us to put that kind of performance in consistently.

“I thought, against a side a lot of people have tipped for automatic promotion this year, we were the better side throughout the game. Apart from the great save he had to make at the end from the header, I can’t really remember Flatty having too much to do.

“It’s consistency now. We’ve got nine cup finals now, starting on Tuesday. If we show that same kind of mentality, then it’s going to go down to the wire.

“I’m happy with that. We’re four points off Gateshead with a game in hand, we’ve got to win that game in hand, then it is squeaky-bum time for a lot of teams in and around the promotion push.

“I’m over the moon with the work ethic. I was really pleased today with some of the stuff we played and it was a massive result for us.”

The challenge now facing Barrow is backing their win up when they welcome Wrexham to town on Tuesday.

Cox and his side will be looking to claim back-to-back league wins for the first time in 2017, and the manager said: “Even though today’s result comes off the back of a little bit of a bad patch for us, I’ve never stopped believing, the players have never stopped believing. We’ve just got to make sure now that we forget about all the horrible things – fatigue etc – it is just the state of mind now.

“We’ll challenge the boys to really work hard and achieve something this year. For me, we’re a year to 18 months ahead of schedule, and I never thought in my wildest dreams we would be in this position. But we’ve got to take it and enjoy the ride.”