Just as last season, Barrow AFC are heading to Ebbsfleet United with their opponents from Kent in some peril, but this time the problems are on the pitch, rather than off it.

Last autumn, the Fleet went through something of a fire sale, with several members of their squad moved on and backroom staff being laid off to cut costs, which eventually led to the departure of manager Daryl McMahon.

His replacement, Garry Hill, went on to do an admirable job with small numbers in challenging for what appeared an unlikely play-off push, which eventually did fall short.

However, this season has proved to be a real struggle so far for the Stonebridge Road club, who go into tomorrow's match bottom of the National League, with only one win to their name in 11 matches.

The first five of those were lost, meaning Ebbsfleet were playing catch-up from an early stage, although Hill has made his side tougher to beat recently and they claimed arguably their best result of the campaign so far at Woking last Saturday.

All hope appeared to be lost at Kingfield, with the Fleet 2-0 down with time running out but late goals from Alex Reid and Myles Weston gave them a 2-2 draw that extended their unbeaten run to three games.

Not surprisingly, experienced campaigner Hill is a man up for the fight, telling Kent Online: "I’ve never waved a handkerchief in my life to surrender, I would never do that. You don’t do those kind of things and I don’t make excuses either.

"People can turn round and say to me, over the last six games: ‘wouldn’t you have won three and lost three and have nine points instead of seven?’ No. The confidence is now starting to come on the grounds that players are saying ‘it’s another result.’"

AFC will want a different result to their last visit to Ebbsfleet, where Danny Kedwell's strike gave the hosts a smash and grab victory in a match Ian Evatt's side dominated last November.