PAUL Casson was convinced Barrow AFC are heading in the right direction even before they pulled off an excellent 1-0 home success over Eastleigh.

The Bluebirds owner flew into England last week to hold talks with manager Darren Edmondson over the club’s start to their National League campaign, which before Saturday’s win had seen them collect just seven points from seven games.

US-based Casson made the unscheduled visit in the wake of Barrow’s 3-1 defeat at Halifax, where the Bluebirds had largely bossed the game until a late collapse saw them surrender the lead and ultimately capitulate to defeat.

AFC are close to having a fully-fit squad, with Edmondson’s ranks having been hit by injury and illness.

David Mellor has been one of the injury victims – the central midfielder suffering with a niggly ankle problem – but he produced a strong display against Eastleigh.

Barrow sit 15th in the table and are seeking to build on Saturday’s morale-boosting success, and Casson gave an insight into his discussions with Edmondson.

Talking ahead of the Eastleigh game, he said: “They were very illuminating.

“Edmo’s obviously thought about what happened at Halifax and where we are in terms of the team itself.

“On the whole, it was pretty positive.

“The team’s not a million miles away, we’ve pretty much been competitive in every game, which is important. We’ve been losing by conceding goals in the last several minutes.

“There have been some extenuating circumstances.

“David Mellor has had a little ankle injury which has prevented him from having full fitness and Ashley Grimes is coming to terms with this league. We think he will be a dynamic striker once he gets to that point.

“The players that have changed from part-time to full-time really seem to be benefiting – Paddy Lacey, Andy Cook and Alex-Ray Harvey particularly seem to be benefiting.

“I think they will be a lot better as players going forward.

“And I think the biggest news of all is that Anthony Wilson (who has not played this season as the striker has been recovering from knee surgery) is probably now about three weeks away (from being in contention for a return to action).

“He’s starting to run very well in training and in about a week or so he’ll be rejoining the lads for full-contact training. That would just be a massive addition.

“Cooky’s obviously been scoring, but to add Anthony to that mix would be amazing.”

Casson says he added his own input into the talks, with the AFC chairman outlining his faith in Edmondson’s managerial abilities. Last season Barrow’s ultimately successful Conference North title tilt went right down to the wire, with January’s vital come-from-behind 2-1 home victory over Hednesford proving an important catalyst for more success following their difficult Christmas/New Year.

The Bluebirds will be hoping Saturday’s triumph over Eastleigh will spark a string of positive results.

In giving a further flavour of what was discussed with Edmondson, Casson added: “There was a little bit about heads going down and that has to change and they talked about that.

“They talked about just having fun playing football at the end of the day and getting back to the spirit we had last year when it was all for one, and one for all, and we did a lot of things and we had those Hednesford moments. We need more of that.

“At the end of the day, we’ve had lots of injuries and so Darren’s ability to substitute players as he normally would may be compromised by the fact people aren’t available or are not fully fit.

“It doesn’t quite look as obvious from the outside as maybe it is on the inside. Part of it is just circumstance.

“There is a certain part of it which involves a mental factor, which they have to get over.

“There is probably a little bit of a culture shock in this league. Mistakes are not tolerated, they will be punished 99 per cent of the time so you have to get that in your head that you have to be mentally focussed for 90-plus minutes, otherwise good things aren’t going to happen.

“But I think they’ve learnt that lesson. Once we get all of the players fit and get the squad exactly where we want it to be, this whole situation will improve dramatically.”

Does Casson still believe that AFC can compete in the to half of the table and be ‘in the play-off conversation’ this season?

He responded: “Why not? Basically, if we had beaten Halifax, which we should have done by a wide margin, we would have been around 10th in the table.

“So why not? It’s not an unrealistic expectation.”