PAUL Cox will settle for nothing less than top spot as Barrow AFC put their FA Cup heartache behind them and return to their National League promotion quest.

The Bluebirds host Southport at Holker Street tonight, three days after League One Rochdale ended their Cup dream with a 2-0 win on the same ground (7.45pm kick-off).

AFC cannot afford a hangover from that defeat, having dropped out of the play-off places following the 4-1 loss to Gateshead on New Year's Eve.

Barrow have two games in hand on Dover Athletic – who occupy fifth spot and the final play-off berth – while the top four, Lincoln City, Tranmere Rovers, Forest Green Rovers and Dagenham and Redbridge, have all played at least one more match than Cox's side.

The AFC boss is convinced his team can still be title contenders, and wants them to aim purely for first place come the end of the season, rather than accepting anything less.

“We can affect the top place. That’s my desire – I don’t want to settle for second. I’m hoping no-one at the club wants to settle for second,” said Cox, who has loan keeper Jon Flatt and midfielder Dan Rowe available for their first National League games following appearances against Rochdale on Saturday.

“I probably have to show a different side of me. I’ve got to manage the club now, I’ve got to manage the players, and if we want to be successful, then we can achieve something this season.

“If we want to just relax, because of the change in the status quo where we’re not avoiding relegation this season, and we’re not being a yo-yo club, and just think that we have achieved now, then it’s not for me.

“I want a club, I want a group of players who have a desire now to pick themselves up after what could be classed as a negative, dust themselves down and really focus on going forward and trying the affect the top place in this league.”

Cox has repeatedly stressed the need for his squad to be reinforced during the January transfer window, holding talks with owner Paul Casson twice last week, and reporting positive progress from them.

Flatt and Rowe have already arrived, with another forward target lined up from a Football League side, with that move dependent on the parent club's assessment of the player during a training match taking place early this week.

The possibility of more men coming in – with Cox suggesting as many as five or six were needed – will put pressure on the players already in the team, with the manager looking for a positive response from the players now as they move into a key part of the season having seen their 26-match unbeaten run ended by back-to-back defeats.

“No-one remembers what we’ve done in the first half of the season,” he said. “Twenty-six games unbeaten is all chip paper, that’s all it is now.

“I’m not going to hang around. I’m going to make tough decisions if I don’t get a reaction. It’s very interesting that some players can see themselves, all of a sudden, with their names up in lights, and they can end up scrapping to keep their job come the end of the season.

“If players want to mope around, feel sorry for themselves, find that there is a little bit of fatigue in there, then they are not going to be the ones who see us over the line.

“I want players who are going to really put up a fight and take this positive run we have been on in the FA Cup, the positive run we have been on in the league, and now really raise the bar and take us forward.”