AFTER bringing up a personal milestone on Saturday, Alex-Ray Harvey hopes to help Barrow AFC to club history this season.

The 26-year-old midfielder made his 200th Bluebirds appearance in the 4-2 victory at Solihull Moors – becoming only the 23rd player to reach that mark in the club’s non-league history.

But, while Harvey – who was made captain for the day at Solihull – is delighted to have enjoyed such a long spell with the Holker Street club, he is more concerned with helping them to the National League play-offs.

“It’s nice to have played 200 games,” said Harvey, who made his debut on loan from Burnley under managers Dave Bayliss and Darren Sheridan in January 2012 in the 4-1 defeat at Fleetwood Town. “It’s some achievement, it feels likes it’s gone very quickly, but it was a good day. The main thing was to get the win on Saturday, but it’s an achievement I’m happy with.”

“We started very well,” he added. “They have had some good results at their place and we knew that if we didn’t start well, we could easily get turned around.

“It was an important game. We needed the win, that’s the main thing at this stage. We started very well in the first half and were even better at the start of the second half. It was two gifts for their goals, I don’t think they had to work for them, it was just a lack of concentration.

“In the end, we saw the game out and got the win, which was the most important thing.”

Harvey – by far the longest-serving player in the Barrow squad – is hopeful the Bluebirds can build on their mini-run of seven points from their last three games when they head to Chester tonight (7.45pm kick-off).

The win over Solihull followed a 1-1 draw with Wrexham and a 2-1 victory against Dagenham and Redbridge, leaving AFC three points off the play-offs in eighth place, but with a game in hand on two of the sides above them – Gateshead and Aldershot.

Taking three points at Chester could see the Bluebirds climb as high as fifth – and into the final play-off spot – should Dover fail to win at Tranmere.

Harvey, who follows Andy Cook and Jason Walker as players from recent seasons to make 200 AFC appearances, knows the importance of getting a result tonight – and the message it would send to their rivals.

“We’re excited,” he said. “Every game is going to have pressure on us now, and I think the fact we’re away from home for the next two games (Barrow travel to Maidstone on Saturday), teams are unlikely to sit back at their place, where we’ve found out they will in recent weeks at home. It gives us that freedom to go out and attack. Hopefully, we can carry on the way we have been going – it would be an ideal time to pick up a good run-in towards the end of the season.

“Chester is always a tough place to go. It’s a big pitch, a nice ground, and they always have a big crowd in. But we picked up a positive result there last season and we can go there with confidence from that and also how we’re playing at the moment.

“It would be a really big win if we can get it. A few teams around us would have their eye on us then, because they know what we’re capable of when we do hit form.

“We’ve just got to be fully focused on the game and hopefully we will do enough to get the win. It will be interesting to see how we do from there.”

Harvey has made 41 appearances so far this season – having established himself as one of manager Paul Cox’s first-choice midfielders after earning a new deal last summer.

He is hopeful there will be more than just the seven National League appearances to come this season, with the club on the way up after going through the difficulties of relegation during his time with them.

He added: “It has been a roller-coaster ride since I came here. There have been downs, but for the past three years, luckily we have been on the up, and that’s the way it seems to be keeping going. I’m enjoying it.”