Barrow AFC will look to get back to winning ways at Dagenham & Redbridge tomorrow and manager Ian Evatt is confident the match will be a better spectacle than September’s reverse fixture.

That match against the Daggers, who were dogged with financial problems at the time, was one the visitors stole with a late winner at Holker Street after the Bluebirds had failed to make their pressure tell.

Things are much more stable off the pitch for the East London outfit now, after they were taken over by an American consortium last October, and they have been able to invest in their squad since.

As a result, Evatt believes his opposite number, Peter Taylor, has been able to implement a style of play similar to AFC’s and that it could help his side’s cause, as they look to put last week’s home defeat against Boreham Wood behind them.

Evatt said: “I think both teams are different. I think we’ve improved, and the results have shown that, but also I think they play a different style now.

“They were fighting for their lives at the time and they were very direct, played off the front, and they’ve obviously got a very experienced manager who, believe or not, managed England.

“It’s going to be tough – I think with the way they play now they obviously try and move the ball around, they pass the ball from back to front, kind of like we do, so I’m looking forward to a proper football match and a tactical football match.

“Both teams are trying to play, in my opinion, the right way and play an expansive brand of attacking football, which hopefully both sets of fans will like to see.”

A change of ownership mid-campaign is something Barrow and Dagenham have in common, with the difference being that the consortium that inherited control of the Bluebirds was made up of local businessmen.

Both clubs are now looking ahead to a brighter future and have aspirations of a return to the Football League, albeit after a considerably longer absence in AFC’s case.

Evatt said: “You can just see from what’s happening at other clubs that financial issues are rife in football at the moment.

“It’s a very expensive business to run – I’m not sure I’d like to do it, to be honest, but we’ve got new owners now who are giving it their best shot.

“I think they unearthed one or two more things than they thought they were going to find, after the last regime, but they’re dealing with that.

“Off the field, we can’t really control what’s going on, we just have to manage what we do on the pitch, play to the best of our abilities and if we get good results and get good performances, then it obviously helps everything else.”

Meanwhile, Barrow’s medical staff are trying to get to the bottom of why winger Josh Kay keeps suffering from cramp during games, after it again forced him off the field against Boreham Wood.

“It’s something that we need to rectify and work on,” Evatt said.

“A player who’s 22 years old should not be getting cramp, so we’ll have to look at his diet, his nutrition, what he’s doing off the pitch to make sure he’s giving himself the best possible chance to be as fit as he possibly can and to play 90 minutes.

“So that’s disappointing, but he’s OK for Saturday and we’ll work hard with him.”