Phil Brown says Barrow AFC must be in charge of their own destiny and not rely on others.

The Bluebirds remained six points above the relegation zone despite defeat at Leyton Orient in Brown’s first game in charge.

Barrow retained their survival cushion thanks to defeats to bottom-four rivals Oldham Athletic and Stevenage.

But new manager Brown says AFC cannot afford to depend on other teams to keep them safe.

“I don’t want to rely on anybody – I want to do it ourselves,” Brown said.

“I don’t want players to tell me [after games that] Oldham have won or lost, or Stevenage have won or lost, or did the new manager bounce work or not…

“What matters is we do it ourselves, address it ourselves, put bums on seats next weekend and smiles on people’s faces, because we’ve won the game – because of how we’ve approached it.

“There is enough quality in the changing room that, it we’re organised in the right way and with the right attitude, shown in abundance, we will have enough.”

Barrow put in a competitive first half performance at Orient before being hit by two goals after the break.

They remain fourth bottom as Brown now starts preparations for his first home game in charge against Port Vale next weekend.

Brown described Orient’s opener, when Paul Smyth lobbed Paul Farman from a tight angle, as almost “Premier League” quality.

But he said the Bluebirds must also learn to respond better to going behind, with their goalscoring issues clear in the mind.

“I think our team is not just about shape and discipline – it’s about work rate and desire, all attributes we want to have,” Mark Cooper’s successor added to the BBC.

“I thought those were in abundance in the first half. Then the goal goes in, and we’ve got to get rid of that feeling that we’re not scoring goals.

“If you concede the first goal, you’ve got to have character and desire to make sure you come back and get something from the game.

“I don’t think we’ve quite got that in the group but it will come.

“When we get our noses in front, see how many come to party then – that’s the plan against Port Vale, to remain positive and hopefully we’ll get the three points we’re looking for.”