WHEN: November 2009

WHERE: Holker Street

IT is a long way from Eastleigh to Barrow, as today's Bluebirds side will attest.

And the 306-mile return journey from the South Coast must have felt like an even longer trip home for the Hampshire team eight years ago, when their FA Cup dreams were shattered in the dying seconds by Jason Walker.

Walker's stunning long-distance winner four minutes into added time earned Barrow AFC victory in a game in which they had been largely outplayed by their Conference South opponents.

While the result was harsh on Eastleigh, it earned Barrow £18,000 in prize money and a trip to Oxford United in the second round.

The late, late winner came out of the blue, with Walker admitting that fatigue played a part in him choosing to shoot at goal from fully 35 yards out.

“To be honest, I was a little bit tired, I've not really trained all week because I've had flu, so I just hit it and luckily for us it went in,” he explained.

“Eastleigh had a real go from the start and were the better team, but that's the FA Cup, and two very good goals have won us the game.”

Barrow's first 'very good goal' on a rainy day at Holker Street came from the boot of Walker's strike partner Andy Cook, as he opened the scoring 10 minutes before the break with a spectacular half-volley.

Eastleigh were always a threat though, and they grabbed a deserved equaliser on 85 minutes through Andy Forbes and must have thought they had earned a replay – until Walker struck.

“We know we can play a lot better than that,” the match-winner said afterwards, and he was to be proved right, as AFC grabbed a 1-1 draw at Oxford in the next round and beat the U's 3-1 in the replay to earn a dream third-round date with Premier League Sunderland.

And although their run ended at The Stadium of Light with a 3-0 defeat, AFC's cup heroics of the 2009/10 season were not over by a long chalk, as they won the FA Trophy with victory over Stevenage at Wembley.

It was that man Walker again who struck late on with another wonderful long-range effort to seal a dramatic 2-1 win for the Bluebirds.

Barrow: Tomlinson, Spender, Jelleyman, Jones, Pearson, Kamara, Hulbert, Bond, Cook, Walker, Rutherford (Logan 75).

Eastleigh: Matthews, Goodhind, Poate, Forbes, Jordan, Adeniyi, Smith (McAuley 62) Riviere, Taggart (White 75), Gillespie, Brown (Taylor 84).