Midfielder Jason Taylor feels Barrow AFC's fitness is proving crucial towards the end of games, with the way they keep possession leaving opponents feeling leggy by the closing stages.

Last Saturday's 2-0 win over Bromley was the latest example of the Bluebirds finishing a match strongly, as the Ravens were never given a sniff back into the game once John Rooney had doubled their lead.

This came after they had scored four times in the last 20 minutes of their previous league fixture; the 7-0 hammering of Ebbsfleet United.

AFC had to graft extremely hard against Bromley for the most part, with their visitors knowing that defeat at Holker Street would mean them being left eight points behind the National League leaders, having played two games more.

Taylor said: "Every game in this league is really tough. We know that you always have to fight for the three points in this league and sometimes, with the way we play, we have to grind teams down.

"Obviously, we've done that recently and we seem to get a lot more chances if we're still in the game or winning the game late on in games, after we've moved teams around and tired them out.

"If we're trying to keep the ball, the opposition have got to try and win it off us and they're using up a lot of energy to do that."

Rooney has shown this season that he can score from just about anywhere, with the midfielder striking his 18th goal of the season direct from a corner against the Ravens by catching them out at the near post.

"I think he's just put it in a great area and he's caught them off guard," Taylor said.

"To be honest, at this stage of the season I couldn't care less how the goals come, so long as we get those three points."

What Rooney's strike did was settle any remaining nerves that affected some of AFC's player during parts of what was a tight game against a fellow promotion contender.

They could have even added to their lead further, with Scott Quigley and Olly Dyson both coming close for Ian Evatt's side.

Taylor said: "I think everyone started to feel more settled - we scored at good times on Saturday and, to be honest, we should have been more clinical. They had a couple of good chances and they had a good breakaway, but overall we controlled the game really well."