TOBY Mowat is confident his in-form Barrow side can keep on ramping up the pressure on Northern League pacesetters Fleetwood.

Mowat’s men go into tomorrow’s home game against struggling Darwen in second place in the Division One table – knowing victory will see them leapfrog the leaders, who do not play until Monday.

The 20-year-old, who replaced the vastly experienced Daryl Wearing in the Ernest Pass hot-seat in the close season, has enjoyed a great first six weeks in the role, despite suffering a losing start.

An under-strength Barrow team slumped to 86 all out in an opening-day defeat to Fleetwood, but they have remained unbeaten since and have risen steadily up the table.

Indian professional Kaustubh Pawar has been in century-making form with the bat, backed up by good contributions from the likes of his Mumbai team-mate Javed Khan, plus Wearing, Sam Dutton, Greg Reynolds and Gary Collins, and Mowat is confident his side can continue their excellent run of form.

“It’s going really well,” said the skipper, whose side are in Lukey’s Sports T20 Cup group stage action at Netherfield tonight.

“We had about five players missing for the first game of the season. We were a bit short and Fleetwood are a decent side.

“But since then we have really come together. We have got a bit of momentum now and there’s a good buzz around the place.”

While confident his side have the ability and form needed to beat second-bottom Darwen, Mowat is certainly not taking the East Lancashire side lightly.

“We’re looking to win every match,” he said. “We take every game the same, we don’t think, ‘these are near the bottom of the table so we should beat them.’

“You’ve got to go into every game with the same attitude because it’s cricket and anything can happen on the day.”

“Hopefully we can win and put the pressure on Fleetwood. They are losing their pro, who has been scoring a lot of runs for them, so that could work in our favour,” added Mowat, with reference to run-machine Travis Dean who will depart the Fylde-coast club in July after being called up to the Australian A squad.

While loving the game-day experience as captain, Mowat is still adjusting to all the off-the-field aspects of the skipper’s role.

He is finding there is a lot of work involved, such as sorting out fixtures and team selection issues and remembering to take your kit bag home.

“I left my cricket bag at Leyland last Saturday, so I had to go down there last night (Wednesday) and get it back!” he joked.

Elsewhere, it is a busy bank holiday double-header weekend in the North Lancs and Cumbria League.

Reigning Premier Division champions Furness will look to keep up the pressure on leaders Workington. But Scott Pearcey’s men face two tough games, entertaining Cockermouth tomorrow and then heading to Ulverston Road on Monday for a derby against improving Dalton.

The battle for the leading places in Division One is a constantly-changing picture.

Haverigg’s defeat to Carlisle last weekend saw them drop from from first to fifth. However, such is the tightly-congested nature of the table, the Poolsiders could be top again by Monday evening, should they win at Ulverston tomorrow and at home to Millom 48 hours later.

Although that first defeat of the season against Carlisle knocked them off the top of the table, there are high hopes Haverigg will be in the running for promotion.

Among their biggest rivals for that coveted spot are next-door neighbours Millom. The two teams meet on Monday in their big derby, with Haverigg skipper Drew Postlethwaite saying: “They will fancy their chances to beat us just as we think we can beat them, but I expect both of us to be up there around the top of the league at the end.”

Another Division One derby takes place tomorrow with bottom club Kirkby taking on Lindal Moor.

Kirkby’s early-season progress has been blighted by the crossover with the football season – but now that has reached a happy conclusion, with Kirkby United being crowned Furness Premier League champions, the Villagers should be able field a much stronger side.

Division Two table-toppers Vickerstown will be aiming to extend their unbeaten start ahead of matches at Cockermouth tomorrow and Dalton A at Rainey Park on Monday.