Saturday was one of those days as Barrow fans where you wonder why you do it.

For the hardy bunch who travelled to Torquay on the supporters’ bus, departure from Ramsden Square was at 5:30am.

Huddled around the bus stop in heavy rain, it was easy to question our decision to make a 700-mile round trip to watch the Bluebirds in action at a tricky ground.

To be fair, on the travel front we had a good run. Aside from a diversion through Ulverston and Greenodd which saw us take almost two hours to reach Lancaster, the trip was largely uneventful and we arrived at Torquay’s ground at 1:30pm.

The return leg was similarly serene and saw us back in Barrow a little after midnight. Under the circumstances, not bad.

As is often the case, however, it was the bit in between that spoiled the day.

Barrow struggled in the early stages to adjust to what were unquestionably difficult conditions. Torquay’s pitch had cut up badly and the ball wasn’t running as an Ian Evatt side would like it to.

Despite that (and slightly contrary to the game we’d watched up until that point), Dior Angus fired us ahead against a Torquay team who hadn’t really done much yet to trouble us.

The equaliser, when it came, simply reinforced everybody’s view that this was a winnable game but perhaps a day on which a point would be a good result. However, it was then that the referee intervened.

Whatever the outcome of our appeal, nobody will ever convince me that John Rooney has committed handball and earned a straight red card.

In order to prevent the entirely accidental collision of ball and hand, the only logical conclusion is that Rooney should not have made a superb goal-saving challenge inside the box.

The fans were still cheering that slide tackle when the referee blew for a penalty and issued the dismissal, stunning the travelling fans.

The great irony was that Barrow played their best football with ten men, as we adjusted to the playing surface.

Torquay were able to pick their moments with the extra man and they did it well, but the Bluebirds will take heart from a performance in adversity that lost none of the crispness in our passing or the speed in our play once we had adjusted to the setback of Rooney’s red card.

*So, what does Saturday's result mean for our promotion challenge?

Well, clearly it's not good news. But seven wins in a row was a phenomenal effort by all involved and has brought us into the promotion picture. We can afford the occasional defeat and we will suffer them, but so will everybody else around us.

Taking the current table, it's January 18 (Bromley) before we play another side occupying the play-off places. That's not to say that any game at this level is easy, but what we can say is that we're entering a run of playing teams who have not – to date this season – been able to put together the best runs for whatever reason.

The winter will be tough. Pitches won't suit us and our squad depth will be tested. But this is where we will all find out just what this team is capable of. It's an exciting time to follow Barrow AFC and to be associated with the club.

Tonight the team make the trip to Dagenham & Redbridge for the second away game in four days in a tricky period for us. A win would go some way to softening the blow of what felt like a poor refereeing decision at Torquay and to getting us back on track.

*There’s a lot of responsibility placed on the Bluebirds Trust these days. Having taken £50,000 of peoples’ money to make the share purchase happen, we now have an obligation to do everything we can to see that the club succeeds and that the views of the fans are represented at the highest level.

Making that happen can be a lot of work. Between Trust meetings (and BAFC board meetings in my case), there’s a dizzying amount of admin in processing memberships, 1901 Club entries (and monthly draws), the running of the shop including stocking, displays, staffing, cashing up and everything else that goes with the world of retail.

After that there’s the volunteer coordination: programme sellers, raffle sellers, filling ad hoc requests for turnstile operators and pie sellers… the list of requirements goes on.

And all of it needs to raise funds that the football club depends on for its continued survival.

This Saturday morning, we will hold the Trust’s 2019 AGM. Further announcement on the specifics will be issued by the Trust via the usual social media channels, as well as to members directly.

It would be great to see as many there as possible to give support (and ideally to volunteer help) for the vital work which the Trust does in our community.