PAUL Cox will cast another appraising eye over his potential Barrow AFC recruits at Stockport County tonight.

Cox will field several of the triallists who featured in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Airbus UK Broughton, as well as at least one new face eager to impress and earn a deal (7.45pm kick-off).

Andy Coughlin, Jack Deaman, Evan Murray, Glen Belezuka, Tommy Raheem, Matty Hamilton, Emile Sinclair and Tyrell Waite all played a part at Airbus and could again feature at Edgeley Park as AFC look to add final numbers to the squad.

Coughlin, Hamilton, Raheem and Belezuka played in the match against Furness Select at Rakesmoor Lane a week earlier.

Lindon Meikle, Paul Turnbull and Moussa Diarra missed Saturday’s match as Cox decided against risking anyone with the slightest of knocks, but all will be set to play this evening.

“The boys we felt had shown a little bit of something in the trial game, we invited them through (to Airbus),” said Cox. “It’s important that we gave them a run-out with first-team players in a first-team environment.

“I’ve done it in the past where you release people after playing in a game like the one at Holker and it comes back to bite you. It was just a triallist game and you don’t always get a full impression of what they would be like with first-team players.

“We will be cutting the numbers down again and there will be a few who will be there for the Stockport game. We will be slowly making the cuts as we go along.”

On the injured trio, he added: “All of them were precautions for the same sort of reasons. Firstly, they had picked up slight knocks and strains, but also we were playing on a 3G surface.

“Especially with Turnbull and Meikle, they both have Achilles/calf problems, so it was best to leave them out and give them their first run-out on grass.

“Moussa has a similar thing with his knee and because of the hardness of the surface, it was thought it was best to build him into a grass game. They should all feature at Stockport at some point.”

In addition to those players who featured against Furness Select, Deaman is a former Cheltenham Town defender, while Sinclair has played up front for York City and Northampton Town and Waite is a young forward who counts Notts County and Lincoln City among his former clubs.

Both Waite and Sinclair were invited to training sessions with the Bluebirds last week.

Cox expects Stockport to provide a sterner test than Welsh Premier League outfit Airbus when the sides meet tonight.

The National League North outfit will be seeking promotion back to the Conference, and the AFC boss anticipates his side will be in for a hard night.

“If we can take the first-half display from Saturday – and I’m only talking about the first half, because the second half was a triallist game – into 60 or 70 minutes now, with the same level of performance, then I will be happy with that.

“It’s going to be a totally different game. The opposition, I think, will be a lot stronger and I think it will be one of the tougher games we have in pre-season for various reasons.

“Stockport will be strong, they will be fit and organised, but it’s again about asking questions of us. The way I work in pre-season, it’s not necessarily the positives I want to be looking at, it’s the problem-solving.

“I don’t want to be doing too much problem-solving three or four games into the season, I’d rather be doing it in pre-season, which is why I have given us stern tests which will ask questions of us.

“It’s a waste of time winning every game in pre-season 5-0 and getting to the season and realising you’re not fit enough and your players aren’t good enough – the clock is ticking then and points are being lost.”