PATRICK Brough has revealed Saturday’s win over Mansfield Town has lifted spirits at Holker Street as The Bluebirds continue to fight for their League Two status.

Left-back Brough scored both goals in a 2-0 victory over The Stags, putting Rob Kelly’s side above the relegation zone after Southend United failed to beat Oldham Athletic.

The 25-year-old has enjoyed playing against the Nottinghamshire side this season, with his Saturday brace at Holker Street adding to a goal scored in the reverse fixture earlier in the season.

Following the game, Brough was pleased that the side bounced back from two successive 1-0 defeats.

He said: “After losing in the last few seconds last Saturday and then getting beat on Tuesday, there is now such a difference in the changing room after winning today.

“We know before you start playing football, you have to win the battle – the first half was like that. The second half opened up a bit more, we played football and managed to get in front and secure the win.

“It is tough, but you have to think as soon as we got beat on Saturday there is another game on Tuesday. You can’t just sit moping around, we haven’t got time for that. Nobody is going to help us, the only people that can get out of this is us, so we have got to pick ourselves up and go again, which we did do today.

"Tuesday wasn’t great, but again, the lads have just showed we can pick ourselves up and get the three points.”

A key turning point in the game was Ryan Sweeney’s dismissal for two bookings in the 63rd minute, which gave Barrow the numerical advantage.

Brough admitted that the sending off gave The Bluebirds a boost, before opening the scoring 11 minutes later following an error from Mansfield’s Kellan Gordon.

The Bluebirds next face Walsall on Friday evening, with the side now firmly focused on making it two wins from two.

Brough added: “Football is a big confidence game, we were two goals up and thinking let’s get some more – goal difference is a massive thing. Ours isn’t great but compared to the rest of the teams at the bottom it’s not too bad, so the better we can keep it like that – it will be vital at the end of the season.

“It’s massive, the lads said in there after the game it is just one win and that’s it – we need to go out and get another seven or eight of them to try and secure our place. The thing it does for morale is massive – we haven’t got a game on Tuesday so we have got a couple of days now to rest, go again on Friday and hopefully repeat.”