BARROW AFC will face a 'tough' test when they take on Colchester United this weekend according to boss Pete Wild.

The Bluebirds take on Matty Etherington's side at the Jobserve Community Stadium off the back of their fifth consecutive victory in all competitions against Crawley Town at Holker Street.

Barrow have also won four out of their five previous league matches and will look to extend their overall unbeaten streak to 10 matches with a result against 17th-placed Colchester.

Ahead of the clash, Wild highlighted the 'great job' done by Us boss Etherington since his appointment at the end of October.

He said: "I am expecting a team that looks at one. A team that has got good synergy.

"I think Matt has done a great job since he has come in in galvanising the group and making them tougher to play against and you can see now see them starting to move the ball and put together some good patterns of play that we saw at Stockport on Saturday.

"I think Matt has done a great job and Colchester as a club are fantastic at promoting youth and they have got some really good youth players playing in their team and we expect a really tough down there on Saturday.

Etherington was placed in interim charge of the Us following the dismissal of Ben Garner last month and during this period has guided Colchester to three wins and a draw, earning his appointment as permanent manager on November 16.

This is an up-turn in Colchester's fortunes with the Us now six points clear of the drop zone and Wild explained how Etherington has masterminded this revival.

He said: "I've watched their last three games and like I said I think he has made them hard to beat number one, they look tough to play against and they are very defensively solid and don't concede many goals.

"They have also got some really exciting, especially the two centre forwards, really exciting players who it looks like the team are linking with better and getting the two young forwards on the ball."