Manager Ian Evatt has admitted that Barrow AFC may not have been able to close out last Saturday’s match against Maidstone United in the way that they did earlier in the season.

The Bluebirds picked up their third win in four games with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over the Stones that came courtesy of Tyler Smith’s 11th goal of the season, after they had missed several earlier chances.

Nerves were set jangling late on, however, when they had left wing-back Rhys Norrington-Davies sent off for a professional foul on Maidstone striker Elliott Romain with six minutes left to play.

Having seen AFC hit with late sucker punches earlier in the campaign, supporters will have been fearful of having two points snatched away, but Evatt’s side are a more resilient beast these days.

Evatt believes that, if anything, the red card focused his players’ minds in the closing stages, as the preceding period had seen them suddenly make things hard for themselves.

“It gave them some determination,” Evatt said, adding: “It obviously made them a bit nervy, but that showed how far we’ve come in a short space of time.

“I think a few weeks ago we would have drawn that game, but we’ve got ourselves over the line with another clean sheet, which is very pleasing.

“We’ve defended great, we just need to be more clinical with the chance we create.

“We created a lot of chances, particularly in the first half, but again, in weeks gone by we would have drawn or lost that game and to get over the line with a 1-0 win was very pleasing.”

There was some controversy over Norrington-Davies’ sending-off, as there was still a lot for Romain -who caused Barrow late heartbreak in scoring a winner for Dagenham & Redbridge in September - left to do, rather than it being a clear goalscoring opportunity.

Evatt believes an earlier let-off for Dan Jones, who was only booked for a lunge on the same player after losing control of the ball, may have been on the mind of referee Joe Johnson.

He said: “Dan Jones was probably lucky not to be sent off and then the referee, because he got that one wrong, sent Rhys off when it wasn’t a red card – it was a yellow card at max.

“All in all, we’re really pleased – keeping four clean sheets on the trot is exceptional and outstanding and something we should be very proud of.

“It’s been a big couple of weeks for us and we’ve got a couple of weeks’ break from the league now and a big game in the FA Trophy this week. Hopefully, we can keep this run of form going.”