BARROW AFC are positive it will be business as usual on and off the pitch at Holker Street tonight.

The Bluebirds play their first home pre-season friendly against League Two Carlisle United, with the club optimistic the Brian Arrowsmith Stand and Wilkie Terrace will both be open (7.45pm kick-off).

There were fears that both would be closed after Cumbria County Council's safety advisory group last week issued a zero safety factor rating for the ground following their annual inspection.

That came after they found various safety certificates were out of date – including the ground structural survey and the electrical survey – and raised concerns over weeds on the terraces and the boarding around one of the floodlight pylons.

But AFC managing director Andrew Casson confirmed last night that all the relevant surveys had now been completed – having been delayed by a power cut at Holker Street that required the laying of new electrical cables to be put right, hence the delays – and the paperwork submitted to the council.

He was hopeful that would mean there will be no issues when it comes to stage the game against the League Two Cumbrians this evening. The council confirmed they had received the paperwork and were assessing it.

“The big factors were the structural report, the emergency lighting and the electrical testing, which have all now been completed and checked out just fine, as far as I can read,” said Casson. “They have been sent off to the advisory group.

“We got the big piece of documentation in, so in terms of what we needed to avoid the big sanctions, I believe we have done that now – that's the final few certificates and the structural report.

“It's now in the council's hands to take a look at what's in there and, hopefully, give us a reprieve.”

The last piece of paperwork – the ground structural report – was dispatched to the safety advisory group on Monday, despite having been completed earlier than the other surveys, due to a delay with it being sent to the club.

Casson said: “Trading Standards came this morning to get an update, because I told them that the final piece of documentation was to come today, but it wasn't in at 12 o'clock. The conversation was a bit tense.

“We told them we're doing the best we can, and anything they can do to avoid the draconian response would be appreciated.

“In terms of the process, they haven't explicitly amended the ground yet. All they have done is put their recommendations forward to the council, who then issue the safety certificate. I'm hopeful that now that we have delivered what we said we were going to deliver, that they will pull their recommendation back and say 'we're satisfied that the club is doing the right thing and has the correct documentation. Based on the expertise of various vendors, we think the ground is suitable.'

“Hopefully they will go back to the full S-factor that we had before.”

In a statement issued last night, Cumbria County Council said: "Cumbria County Council has received paperwork from Barrow AFC in relation to the Holker Street site.

"The multi-agency Safety Advisory Group is currently reviewing the documentation."

On the field, Barrow will be looking for a more straightforward outing than in their pre-season opener against Furness Select at Rakesmoor Lane on Saturday.

That match was abandoned with little over half-an-hour played following a serious incident which led to striker Jacob Blyth requiring treatment at pitch-side for close to an hour before being taken away in an ambulance.

After initial fears he had broken his arm in three places, scans at Furness General Hospital revealed a dislocated shoulder and no break, though he will need further scans of his wrist.

Boss Ian Evatt will have the first proper chance to look at his players tonight, therefore, with the likes of Astley Mulholland and Jack Barthram not having played against the amateurs, and Connor Brown having made his debut after signing forms for the club shortly before kick-off.