Barrow AFC will be playing on an artificial surface for the first time this season when they travel to Bromley on Saturday and manager Ian Evatt knows his side will have to adapt.

The league-leading Ravens are one of three teams in the National League that don't play on natural grass, along with Harrogate Town and Sutton United and it has proven to be an advantage to them so far this season.

Bromley are unbeaten at Hayes Road in seven games, winning five of them, and ran out 2-1 winners the last time the Bluebirds came to visit.

On that day, Evatt's team struggled to get to grips with the surface, despite having the majority of possession, as they had to judge the weight of their passing that much more carefully.

Evatt said: "I thought the pitch would be an advantage before I saw games on it, to be honest, and I thought with the astroturf the ball would have a truer roll and you'd be able to play more, but they're scrappier games, for whatever reason.

"The bounce of the ball is completely different to a grass surface and it becomes a scrappy second ball game where you need to be able dig in, fight and take your chances when you get them.

"We'll do a lot of work this week. Luckily for us, Hopwood Hall have an astroturf pitch - a good quality one that we can do some work on and we'll go down to Bromley on Friday and train there and try and get used to their surface.

We've got 20 players who are all fit, healthy and playing really well at the moment and the spirit is excellent."

The Bluebirds have certainly had far more luck with injuries season than the previous campaign and fielding a settled defence has definitely had a huge benefit, with only two goals being conceded in their current run of five straight wins.

Evatt said: "Touch wood, that spate of injuries stays away because it's important that the spine of the team stays healthy.

"We have got options and this season is different because we recruited well in the summer, we've got strength in depth, we've got lads that are really pushing to get in the team.

"That in turn makes the starting XI play better because they know if they're not on their game and they're not playing very well they'll soon be replaced and someone else will come in to take their place.

"That's the kind of team ethic that you need, that atmosphere in the dressing room, but they're all buying into it, they're all excited by what they're doing, they can feel that they're improving, but now's the time to keep our feet on the ground."