Barrow AFC manager Ian Evatt has warned some of his players that their time with the Bluebirds could be running out, following their 2-2 draw at Atherton Collieries in the FA Trophy.

AFC had to fight back from behind twice against the Northern Premier League side on Tuesday night, in a match where Evatt made nine changes to give his fringe players a chance to impress.

This had mixed results, with not all of those coming in doing enough to justify their selection, although there were some successes, with Oliver Greaves' terrific cross producing the first equaliser for Jack Hindle before Morgan Penfold hammered in the second.

But with Evatt limited in regard to the size of his squad, he admitted he may be forced into making some tough decisions if certain members of his squad don't shape up.

He said: "Some were disappointing and some have to understand the reason why they're not involved, not in the squads [for National League games] and get better.

"We have aspirations of being a Football League team and, as it stands right now, we are the best team in non-League football and we have high standards.

"I have incredibly high standards and I won't settle for anything less than that and if you're not doing what I've asked you to do, and I've given you ample opportunity, eventually you'll find yourself out of the club.

"You might think that's harsh, but it's the reality of football. We want to move forwards - we're not going to stand still - we're going to keep improving and if you want to be a part of that, great, show me you want to be a part of it.

"If you don't, then we'll shake your hand, wish you all the best and we'll move on."

The much-changed Bluebirds struggled for fluency on a sharply sloping pitch against fired-up opponents and they were happy to take the replay, which will take place at Holker Street on Tuesday, January 7, meaning the league fixture against Dover will have to be rearranged again.

Evatt said: "It was a crazy game of football. The pleasing thing for me is we had a very young team out there, we made a lot of changes, we've gone behind twice in the game and it would have been easy to crumble.

"But I think it shows how far we've come that, as a group, we dug in there and probably did enough to win the game.

"We didn't, but we are still in the competition and that's the main thing. We didn't get beat and there were bits of quality here and there. I think the pitch made it really difficult for us, with the way we play."