BARROW AFC need to 'give the fans what they want to see' as they prepare for a crucial showdown with relegation rivals Hartlepool United tomorrow.

The Bluebirds can climb above their financially-embattled visitors with victory at Holker Street, and wideman Harry Panayiotou knows the importance of the game (3pm kick-off).

AFC are without a win on their own turf since the end of October – drawing two and losing four of their six National League matches since then.

They went down 3-1 at another of the sides battling for survival, Torquay United, last weekend, to end a seven-game unbeaten run away from home, and sit only one point and one place above the drop-zone going into tomorrow.

Panayiotou wants to see Barrow make up for their recent poor results at home and produce a performance to please the supporters, knowing their opponents will be just as keen to claim three points to help with their own struggles.

“Hartlepool need to win as much as us,” said the St Kitts and Nevis international. “But we're at home, so we should be going in fully confident.

“We need to give the fans what they want to see. It's not nice, because the supporters are coming and giving us everything, and we're not giving back to them.

“It's frustrating, because we do feel bad, we feel sorry. We know we can perform better, we know we can be better. We just hope that the fans will still be on our side, pushing us to the final whistle, because we need them as much as the players around us.”

While AFC have not won at Holker Street since their 3-1 success against Aldershot on October 28 – when the now-departed Adi Yussuf scored a hat-trick – they have produced some good displays against sides in the upper echelons of the division.

They drew 1-1 with both Wrexham and Tranmere Rovers, on Boxing Day and January 6 respectively, and could feel hard-done-by not to take more from both matches.

They were denied a penalty for a clear handball against Wrexham, while Tranmere did not score their equaliser until injury-time at the end of the game, with Barrow having matched two of the favourites for promotion in those encounters.

However, their record against sides at the lower end of the table since Christmas has been poor, losing 2-1 to then-bottom Solihull Moors – whose recent revival has seen them climb to within a point of the Bluebirds – and 2-0 to National League North Brackley Town in the FA Trophy.

Panayiotou recognises the need for the team to produce the same levels against these sides as they have versus those higher up the standings, and said: “We need to put in performances like we have against the top teams against the bottom teams.

“It's little things that we're killing ourselves with. As in, the other day (at Torquay), the first goal came from a corner.

“It's not individual mistakes – we lose as a team and we win as a team. It's not fair to say 'he didn't have his man', everyone should be talking, everyone should be a captain out there, saying 'that's your man, that's your man, don't lose him'. That's how it has to be.”

With AFC struggling for form over the past month – though there have been two postponed matches in that time-span – Panayiotou feels there is a danger the players could spend too much time looking at the table and worrying about their position.

But he is confident in both the squad and manager Ady Pennock, as well as his back-room team, and feels they just need to believe in themselves.

“I don't think there's anything specific we need to improve, it's just more mentally than anything,” said the former Leicester City man.

“It might be that we're looking at the table too much and thinking 'we're right in there'. That might put a downward spiral for the team.

“We've got a very good team. I know right now in the league it doesn't look like it, but we have. We've got very good individuals, but maybe where we are in the league is playing on some people's minds and we forget that. We have got a good team, we know what we can do, we've shown that with how we have played away under the gaffer; we need to put that into our home form.

“We've shown as well against the top sides that we can perform. We've been unlucky as well, with the last-minute goal against Tranmere, even against Wrexham at home.

“I'm sure we'll be okay. We all believe in the gaffer, he's a great guy, a great manager; Holty (player/coach Grant Holt) brings that great experience; now it's all about believing in ourselves.”