Phil Brown says that only by working harder than a relentless Sutton United can Barrow AFC prevail today.

The Bluebirds take on the promotion-chasing London outfit (Dunes Hotel Stadium, 3pm) with survival in sight.

Another win for AFC, coupled with an Oldham defeat to Salford, would seal Barrow’s EFL status.

But Brown has warned that his team’s work rate must match that of Matt Gray’s impressive sixth-placed visitors from Gander Green Lane.

“They are very efficient, good at what they do, and it’s admirable that the club is run the way it’s run,” Barrow boss Brown said.

“I’ve got nothing but admiration for them in the way they’ve come through the hard way, done the hard miles and hours, and now they’re getting the fruits of their labour.

“Labour is going to be the key factor – whoever works harder than Sutton have got a chance of winning the game of football, because they just keep coming at you.

“Having witnessed that, I’m preparing my players for that eventuality – if they keep coming at you, we’ve got to keep coming at them until one of us gives in.

“And the way I run football clubs is we don’t give in. Let’s see. It’s an exciting weekend.”

Barrow’s four points over Easter weekend have put them in a stronger position to seal safety, and Brown could name the same XI that featured at Salford on Monday.

He said he has wrapped players up in cotton wool for part of this week, with John Rooney having been nursing a bruised ankle.

Sutton, meanwhile, could include ex-Bluebirds frontman Richie Bennett.

Brown has spoken of the extra “intensity” he has applied to the team’s work in training in recent weeks.

And he says the demands for maximum effort will not be dialled down.

“To get that level of work into the players at such a precarious position and time in the season was a high risk strategy,” he said.

“But players don’t see that and don’t necessarily need to know that. They just need to apply themselves. I can only sing their praises in how they’ve done that.

“But there’s more work to be done. Having down the 106-7km against Forest Green Rovers, my parting shot was, ‘I’ve got news for you lads, we need to do that on Monday’.

“You can’t play football without running. If you could I would still be playing.

“With that in mind, if we apply ourselves in the way we have from a running perspective, I’ll take whatever result comes our way.”