United head to Barrow at the weekend knowing that it’s going to be the latest in a run of tough games, with that ‘local derby’ flavouring sprinkled over the top for good measure.
“It’s a brilliant game for us, it’s going to be tight, it’s going to be really confined ground, I hope everybody’s sensible,” manager Paul Simpson said. “When we went in the Papa Johns, I hope people use their brains a little bit better.
“Our support were magnificent last season, they’ve been magnificent over this last run of games and let’s hope they are on Saturday. Barrow will want to trip us up and you’ve got to be able to deal with it.
“Without a doubt they will want to try and made amends for the game up here earlier in the season. We saw in the Papa Johns game that they can cause problems, I think they’re a good side with good players.
“I want to see us show that we’re a good side and I want to see us show the enthusiasm and energy we showed in the second half on Tuesday. I want to make sure we go and give it a right good go and give ourselves a fighting chance.”
“You don’t need any games building up,” he added. “I’ve got to say, I look at the games we’ve had over this last run with Stevenage at home, Gillingham and Orient away, Bradford away, Northampton and Stockport at home, Tranmere at home, Walsall away, incredible games, and a tough run of fixtures, but we’re still in those top places.
“Yes, we started in second and we’re not now, but we’ve just got to keep going and we’ve got a brilliant game at the weekend where I’m quite sure we’ll have brilliant support like we had last year. And it’s up to us to take the momentum we got second half and try and continue on Saturday afternoon.
“When you think about it, it’s being involved in this type of thing at this stage that you want. Scunthorpe and Yeovil are examples of the other side of it.
“We had to work hard to avoid that ourselves last season, for the sake of the club we couldn’t afford to do it. It’s horrible, a horrible slippery slope if you get onto it.
“Thankfully we halted that last season by staying in the league, there’s been an incredible effort from every single person, from all players, staff, directors, and now I’m bringing the supporters into it.
“They’ve been absolutely brilliant. The atmosphere inside the ground on Tuesday was incredible, probably a better atmosphere from when we had the crowd against Tranmere, because everybody got behind us.
“There were no silent watchers, and now we’ve got to keep it going. We’ve got to give ourselves a fighting chance, and that starts on Saturday.”