Each week seems to be more manic that the last at the moment.

While Saturday’s result was naturally a huge disappointment to the 1,500-plus fans in attendance, the big news of the week emanating from Barrow AFC is surely the new deal for manager Ian Evatt.

In the face of reported interest from elsewhere, Ian has decided to commit his future once again to our club in a really clear signal of his belief in this team and what it can achieve.

Let’s be under no illusion: other clubs will begin to show interest in this coaching staff and in our players as we continue to produce the kind of football that we’re seeing every week.

We know the risks that come with this recent success, but hopefully the board have gone some way this week toward reassuring the fans that we have no intention of letting our stars – either on or off the field – depart for rival clubs when we feel that we’re so close to achieving something special for ourselves.

We all know the talent that we have in Ian Evatt and we accept that his long term future may well lay outside of Barrow.

This club wants to give him the platform to showcase his skills and secure a big move in the future that we know he deserves.

But in the meantime, we hope that we can work with him and his team to compete at the top end of this division and maybe even get ourselves promoted out of it.

Saturday’s result went against us, but it was good to see the level of performance the players maintained despite recent managerial speculation.

Anybody watching the game would agree that we could have scored three or four goals on another day, and I felt it was testament to the players and the staff that such high standards were maintained this week. It further validates our belief in what we have here and what we can all accomplish together.

So it’s back to business as usual with no excuses. The league is now our top priority for the remainder of the season, secure in the knowledge that we have a manager committed to the cause and a team with the ability to take us where we want to go. I for one couldn’t be more excited – or optimistic – for the challenges ahead.

*There was another encouraging gate of 1,523 at Holker Street last Saturday.

Typically, the FA Cup sees attendance drop slightly (unless we draw a big team of course), so I thought the crowd held up pretty well. Those in attendance were treated to Ian Evatt’s trademark flowing football for much of the first half in particular but try as we might the ball never really dropped for us.

One off the post and two or three tremendous saves from the opposing goalkeeper compared favourably with Solihull’s single goal-scoring cross and not very much else. Many of our players might have left the pitch wondering how we’d lost, and rightly so.

Naturally, any FA Cup defeat is a big disappointment. For the fans this tournament represents a chance to test ourselves against bigger and more famous teams. For directors and club staff, it’s a potential money-spinner.

Recent years have seen us struggle to make much of a mark in this competition for whatever reason, but at least this time we have the consolation of looking at the league table.

In previous campaigns, it has felt to me like an exit from the FA Cup signalled the end of our competitive campaign, bogged down in mid-table with little else to look forward to. This time, happily, is very different indeed.

*The fixture list, geographically at least, makes for grim reading in the next ten days.

Barrow AFC are hitting the road again, starting with a trip to Torquay on Saturday and following that up with a Tuesday night game in Dagenham.

I’m not entirely sure what compelled the fixture schedulers to award us that particular trip midweek, but I don’t really look forward to setting off from the nation’s capital at 10pm to get home from a game of football.

Both of these games are being serviced by Bluebirds Trust buses, but we’re a handful of people short of securing both routes.

So, if you’re interested in booking on for either game (or both) then please contact Jamie Moore on 07444 026795 or at info@bluebirdstrust.co.uk.

Ian Evatt and his team are keen to impress on us at each away game that our support is making a difference, so it’s crucial to keep the momentum going over the next seven days as the club look to continue our brilliant form with six points on the road.

If we could achieve that, who knows how the league table might look.