PLAYERS and rivals are starting to sit up and take note of the progress at Holker Street after Barrow AFC's strong start to the season.

Manager Paul Cox has noticed that potential recruits and other teams in the National League are starting to treat the Bluebirds differently as they prove themselves worthy of a place among the division's upper echelons.

Barrow sit fourth in the table after 11 games, having suffered just two defeats and gone six games unbeaten after Saturday's thrilling win at previous leaders Lincoln. Only three points separate them from Dagenham and Redbridge in the top spot.

They are building well on last year's 11th-placed finish, which came on the back of a run of only three league defeats after the turn of the year under Cox.

Saturday's result at Sincil Bank certainly turned heads, but the 10 months Cox has been in charge have seen a change in personnel both on and off the field for the Bluebirds and he has told chairman Paul Casson that people were already noticing the development taking place.

“I had a conversation with the chairman the other day and I said that the way people are perceiving us now is different to how it was in November last year,” said Cox. “The way people set up against us, the way people talk about us now.

“I have noticed that Barrow Football Club are being looked at totally differently at the minute. When I talk to different managers, when I talk to players, when I talk to agents, people are perceiving us in a different light.

“I don’t mean they think we’ve got loads of money or a wealthy chairman, I just think that the whole package at the minute means we are a club heading in the right direction.”

With their strong start to the season and their recruitment of players such as Byron Harrison, Liam Hughes and Paul Turnbull over the summer, Cox recognises that teams now approach matches against Barrow differently.

That means there is a need to adapt to circumstances, while results such as that from the weekend mean they have to live up to expectations.

The Barrow boss added: “It’s a lovely pressure to have. When I first came to this club, I said I wanted to have a belief that we can compete with some of the massive clubs at this level of football and ultimately be in that pack that has realistic chances of getting promoted.

“We’re probably ahead of schedule from where I thought we would be. I think we needed a lot of hard work with our infrastructure, with the team, with the group, but I’m greedy and I’ll take everything yesterday. Anything that comes our way, we will take – you have to be greedy in this game.

“We’ve got a hungry bunch, a hungry chairman, hungry support. But it’s still feet back down on the ground, it’s early days yet and as a football club we can get better at a lot of things.

“I want us to enjoy the moment, enjoy what we are trying to achieve and we’ll see where we are come Christmastime, take a deep breath and go again.”