Dan Jones believes he has returned to a Barrow AFC side that has much greater firepower than during his first spell with the club.

The centre-back was part of a side that became hard to beat during manager Ian Evatt's first season in charge, earning plaudits for their style of play, but one that struggled to find the goals their performances deserved at times.

Although finishing tenth was a commendable improvement on staying up by the skin of their teeth in the 2017/18 campaign, the Bluebirds were the second-lowest goalscorers in the top half with 52 goals.

In contrast, they have been rampant during their charge to the top of the National League, with their tally standing at 64 goals from 34 games going into this evening's televised match at Sutton United, seven more than the next highest scorers, Yeovil Town.

This includes 18 from Scott Quigley, who is the division's top scorer and arrived at Holker Street last summer, just before Jones' departure from Salford City, who have loaned him back until the end of the season.

Jones said: "We've got goalscorers now. I think that's what we struggled with last year, when we got a lot of clean sheets but didn't score the goals we needed when we had the chances, or when we had the opportunities to kill the game off.

"We missed opportunities and let teams back into it, but this year we've been killing teams off.

"We kept a clean sheet on Tuesday night [against Dover], but we had chances to score - we could have had five or six, especially in the first half.

"However, if that doesn't happen then you've got to keep the back door shut and the lads at the top of the pitch can show you what they are capable of.

"Roons [John Rooney] and Quigs have been scoring goals for fun and hopefully we can continue that for the next 12 games."

With Barrow heading to Sutton seven points clear at the top of the table, Jones could potentially be 12 games away from helping them into the same division as his parent club, who went up via the play-offs last season.

"I don't know how many games to count for a winner's medal, but I'd love it," Jones said.

"I'll have been here for two-and-a-half years by the end of the season and I love all the lads.

"The new lads have welcomed me in and it's basically like I've been here all season, even though I've only been back a week, and I'd love to go up with them, not just for the lads but for the fans.

"With 12 games left, we've just got to keep going, keep plugging away, doing what we do and hopefully it will come off for us."