Michael Jolley insists his new-look Barrow AFC side are 'not far away' from getting back into the winning habit.

The Bluebirds are hoping to avoid a fourth-straight defeat when they host Morecambe this weekend.

Jolley’s side are in need of an upturn after setbacks to Bradford, Cambridge and Salford.

The manager, though, says he saw enough in Tuesday’s 1-0 reverse to feel his side, which was subject to a host of changes in the January window, can find the form they need.

“I don’t think anybody all season has beaten Barrow comfortably, and that’s continued during my time,” he said.

“We’ve been in every game with a chance of getting a result in every game. Of course, the final analysis is we have to turn those close matches into results for us – instead of losing 1-0, we have to try and win 1-0 or better.

“That’s the plan and I don’t think we’re too far away. We changed a lot of things in January, things are still settling down to some extent, but now we’re getting into a run of games I can see us coming together even more.”

Barrow are now second-bottom in League Two, with the bottom three sides separated by three points – but fourth-bottom Scunthorpe eight points further on.

The Bluebirds still have games in hand and Jolley believes the new faces he introduced in midweek will boost the side in their survival battle.

Burnley loan midfielder Mace Goodridge came off the bench in the 57th minute with ex-Bournemouth frontman Mikael Ndjoli also coming on for the closing stages. “I was particularly pleased with Mace,” Jolley said. “He made a really good impression. He brought a lot of energy to the performance and some good quality with a couple of really intelligent passes. I think he showed that he can really help us between now and the end of the season.

“Mikael had a bit less time to make an impact – at that time Salford were defending quite deep so it was difficult for him to find too much space – but he’s in and around it and like all the players we brought in we think he can help the team in the last 20 games.”

The Bluebirds boss says his side must build on the solid aspects of their display on Tuesday while proving more creative in the attacking third.

He said: “I don’t think either team will particularly look back on that one as a classic game; there weren’t loads of chances for either team and of the chances, we had slightly the better.

“One mistake and that was the decisive factor. We must try and eliminate those mistakes as best we can and keep what was good about our performance. We were solid and didn’t give much away.

“What we must now try and do is keep that solid base but now create more chances and score more goals. That’s the challenge and what we need to do to win games.”