Barrow AFC boss David Dunn admits he must tailor his preparation accordingly ahead of a crazy run of fixtures.

While the Bluebirds are not in midweek action this week, they have a relentless run of matches approaching.

Barrow have three home games in the space of six games coming up, starting with Saturday’s visit of Forest Green.

With a league encounter with Oldham coming two days after, and then their rearranged FA Cup clash with AFC Wimbledon on the Thursday, it promises to be an exhausting schedule for Dunn’s improving side.

The Bluebirds boss said he must take a careful approach to preparation given the unusually hectic calendar.

Looking at the games ahead, Dunn said: “You can’t prepare like you want to – the majority of those days between the games have to be a lot of recovery.

“We’ll have to do a lot of video stuff and use that as a session.

“I like players to be on the grass and work on the football pitch but we have to be careful in how we prepare.”

Dunn has already called on football’s authorities to show “common sense” in light of the relentless schedule AFC are facing.

He has warned that being forced to play so many games in a short space of time risks affecting the well-being of his players.

He said it is inevitable that he will have to rotate his squad in order to cope with the demands ahead.

“To ask the players to play so many games in such a short space of time is a real challenge,” Dunn said.

“But if that’s what we have to do, we can’t make excuses.

“We don’t think it’s right but if we have to do it, we will dust ourselves down.

“We will have to make changes and we’re going to need to use our squad very carefully.” Dunn, though, has ruled out using some of Barrow’s loaned-out players to help the squad through the approaching games.

The likes of Morgan Penfold, who has been on loan with FC United of Manchester, is temporarily back with the Bluebirds with football at that non-league level having been paused because of Covid-19.

Dunn, though, said those loans will resume after the lockdown next month and he would not rely on such players in this period.

He said: “They’re training, and they have trained with us sporadically, but they’re gonna be going back to their respective clubs – it’s looking like they’ll start the games back up just after lockdown. I don’t think it’s right we call them back to come back in just for a short spell. It’s right they stay with those clubs.”

Dunn, meanwhile, has been encouraged by what he has seen from some of his recent young attacking additions, such as Jayden Reid and Dimitri Sea.

“Dimitri’s a young boy, he’s learning the game but he’s looked sharp,” he said.

“We might have to use him carefully as we get him up to speed. We have to be careful at times with the younger ones.

“I’ve got to say, I thought Jayden Reid was excellent against Accrington last week - he looked really sharp.

“I’m pleased with a lot of the young lads and how they’ve been performing.”