Tuesday night’s Lancashire Senior Cup tie against Oldham Athletic brought plenty of benefits to Barrow AFC manager Ian Evatt and not just because of his side’s progression in that competition.

Evatt gave several of his fringe players a chance to impress against the Latics and the most obvious success story was striker Jack Hindle scoring twice in normal time - a 3-3 draw - before converting both his penalties in the 12-11 shoot-out success.

Also of note was the way midfielder Mark Waddington grew stronger as the game wore on, which included him driving through the middle before playing in Morgan Penfold for AFC’s late equaliser.

Waddington has struggled for game time since arriving at Holker Street during the summer from Stoke City - partly down to playing catch-up, fitness-wise - making just two sub appearances in the National League.

His performance aided his cause for being involved in today’s home game against Solihull Moors, however, with Evatt saying: “Wadds was better in the second half and he’s worked ever so hard on his fitness levels.

“He’s come on leaps and bounds - his body fat’s down, his weight’s down and he’s looking fitter, stronger and leaner, which is what we need him to be.

“Obviously, there is competition for places in his position, with the likes of John Rooney, who is playing exceptionally well at the moment.

“We’ve got Jason Taylor, we’ve got Lewis Hardcastle, we’ve got Oli Greaves, so we’ve got some very good players, but I was pleased with how Wadds grew in the game in the second half.”

Expanding on Rooney’s current form, Evatt added: “I think he’s been excellent - he’s really taking on board the information we’re giving him and a lot of the things we do well in games come through John. If we can get John on the ball and dictating play, he can get our front players on the ball up the pitch.”