Away trips don’t come any easier than Stockport County for Barrow AFC captain Josh Granite, but only in the sense of the minimal journey time involved

Granite, who had a trial with the Hatters when he was a teenager, lives in the town where he’ll be hoping the Bluebirds can record their first away win of the season tonight.

The last time AFC faced Stockport in the National League was in March 2013, a 2-0 defeat at Holker Street that came towards the end of a season that finished with both teams suffering relegation.

While it only took Barrow, powered by funding from Casson family, a couple of years to get back to the fifth tier of English football, Stockport are finally in their first year back at this level after winning National League North last season.

Granite said: “It’s a really good challenge - I think they’ve done well since coming up, as they got a point at Yeovil from the weekend.

“I know Jim Gannon teams well, I’ve played against them a lot, and they’re very solid and quite direct, well organised, so it’s not going to be an easy game.

“Edgeley Park is a tough place to go, but we’ve got to turn up and be solid again, take out chances when they come and hopefully go and get the three points.”

Barrow go to Stockport no longer having to worry about getting off the mark this season after their 2-0 victory against Eastleigh last Saturday righted a few wrongs from the defeats against Wrexham and Harrogate Town.

Granite is pleased to see the Hatters back playing at a higher level after going through a nightmare four seasons, in the midst of a financial meltdown, that saw them drop from League One into National League North.

Granite said: “They’re a good club, a big club, with a good foundation and fanbase and it’s a great stadium, so you want to be playing at those grounds against them clubs, so personally I am happy to see Stockport back in this league.

“Having said that, I’m not interested in they got on on Tuesday night because we need to go and get a result. Getting three points will be on the forefront of my mind.”

Granite sustained a gash to his shin against Eastleigh, but nothing that will prevent him from taking to the field against his hometown club.

The 27-year-old is pleased with how AFC reacted against the Spitfires, saying: “We weren’t on a bad, bad run as we’d lost two games in four days.

“In the one at Wrexham I think we were quite unlucky, last Tuesday against Harrogate wasn’t good enough, but you’re going to have games like that in the season. We all stood up and reacted the way we needed to.”