Midfielder Lewis Hardcastle was disappointed Barrow AFC couldn’t convert what was a very good performance against Leyton Orient into a great result on Tuesday night.

Not for the first time this season, the Bluebirds showed they can cause the best teams in the National League problems, as they created chances throughout their 3-2 defeat at Holker Street.

However, it was also another occasion where they didn’t display a clinical edge in front of goal and the O’s, who moved up to second in the table as a result, punished them as they made no mistake with their opportunities in the second half.

AFC will take plenty of positives to take into Saturday’s match against struggling Aldershot Town, though, while their storming comeback in the last 20 minutes should at least have restored confidence.

Hardcastle said: “We’re a very good team, we put everyone we play on the back foot and on a different day it could have been five or six, but that’s how football is.

“They had four shots, or something, and scored three of them and, like I said, we could have scored a lot more, but that’s the way we play.

“We dominate possession, but there’s no point dominating if you’re not going to score.

“We’re obviously pleased with the way we played, but we got beat at the end of the day. Everyone is disappointed, but the good thing about football is that we’ve got another game on Saturday where we can put it right.”

Orient will have understandably thought the points were in the bag when they went 3-0 up with 21 minutes, but the Bluebirds fired back superbly to leave the high-flying visitors hanging on in the closing stages.

Although it was their second defeat in four days, it was a much more positive display from Barrow as a whole and there was none of the sluggishness that afflicted them for much of their match at Barnet last weekend. You couldn’t argue it needed them going 3-0 down to get them going this time.

Blackburn loanee Hardcastle, who again impressed in the middle of the park, said: “There’s loads of positives to take out of the game.

“We were creating chances – we would all be worried if we weren’t creating them – but we just need to put them away. We’ll put a team to bed by the end of the season.

“It was like on Saturday against Barnet, no heads go down. I’ve been here five or six games and we’ve lost two, and none of our heads have gone down.

“We play at a high tempo and none of the teams in this league can deal with it. We just need to start putting teams to bed.”