Barrow AFC manager Ian Evatt wants his players to become better at taking the chances that come their way, as they look to end their five-game losing streak at home to Eastleigh tomorrow.

The Bluebirds shouldn’t still be on a run of defeats, after dominating their most recent game against Ebbsfleet United, only to be undone by Danny Kedwell’s sucker-punch in an unlucky 1-0 defeat at Stonebridge Road.

Evatt’s side had several chances either side of Fleet’s goal, but couldn’t make any of them count to reward what was their best display in weeks.

They’ve had to wait two weeks for a chance to finally turn their form around, with Evatt believing they’ll go into the game against the Spitfires with their confidence restored.

He said: “The thing with Ebbsfleet was we played fantastically well and it’s probably in our top three or four performances of the season.

“We just didn’t get the result through one mistake, it was as simple as that.

“Other than that, we dominated the game from start to finish, but we weren’t clinical enough in front of goal.

“We had some great chances and didn’t take them.

“We’re working very hard on that, in terms of when we’re dominating possession like we do and get into the final third, we need to make the opposition pay.

“We’ve worked very hard at that in training and hopefully we’ll see the fruits of that on Saturday.”

Eastleigh are in the same position as Barrow, in the sense that this is their first competitive game in a fortnight, as they were also knocked out of the FA Cup by lower-league opposition in the fourth qualifying round (in the form of Hampton & Richmond Borough).

Their last match in the National League saw them pick up a creditable 1-1 draw at home to high-flying Salford City and they go into Saturday’s clash tenth in the table, seven points ahead of 17th-placed AFC.

However, the Bluebirds’ options have been significantly increased by the return to training of half a dozen players, who were missing the last time they were in action.

Evatt said: “They’re a very good side, they’ve got some experienced players and they’ll be a tough nut to crack.

“But I’ve said many times that if we play the way we can – the way we did at Ebbsfleet – then nine times out of 10 we’ll win the game and if we play like that on Saturday, I think we’ll win.”

As he is in his first season as a manager, Evatt is often the less experienced figure in the dugout during games, but this won’t be the case at Holker Street this weekend.

This is because the match will be the first in permanent charge for new Eastleigh boss Ben Strevens, who had guided the Spitfires through their last four league games as caretaker, after predecessor Andy Hessenthaler left for Dover.

“It’s a new manager and you normally get reactions from players when new managers take over and they normally go on a bit of a run,” Evatt said.

“So it is going to be tough and, as I said, they’ve got some very good players, but we need to concentrate on ourselves, control the controllables, so to speak.

“We’ll need to go into that game on Saturday full of confidence from how we played in our last match and pick up all three points.”