Barrow AFC manager Ian Evatt has made it very clear he wasn't satisfied with what he saw during his side's surprise 2-1 defeat in their pre-season friendly against Furness Select on Tuesday night.

If anything, the two friendlies the Bluebirds have played in the last week have typified the last 12 months.

While Evatt's side gave a good account of themselves against Championship side Blackburn Rovers last Saturday, they ended up struggling in a game they were expected to win comfortably.

The 37-year-old was quick to give credit to Furness Select, who raised their game superbly in the second half at Holker Street, but in terms of seeing how his team would perform in possession, this was not what he wanted to see.

Evatt said: "Credit to Furness Select and credit to Craig [Rutherford], they've tried really hard, they've run their socks off and at times, they've looked a really good side.

"There's no excuses, that's not good enough, but it's hopefully now a rude awakening for one or two and we've just got to improve.

"It's early on in pre-season and we've been back eight days, but in no way is that acceptable. We need to work harder in and out of possession and be better in possession, especially in the final third.

"I think they went into quite a deep, low block and we were a bit clueless.

"There's still five or six new faces in there that are getting used to what we do and I thought, as a positive, Brad Barry in the first half was outstanding. Other than that, there's not a great deal to be taken out of that, to be honest."

Midfielder Jason Taylor was left out of the game as a precaution after suffering from back spasms and his experience was missed in the engine room.

The 32-year-old - last season's Player of the Year at the club - is expected to be fine to return for Saturday's friendly against Workington, which will now be taking place at Holker Street rather than the Reds' ground at Borough Park.

Evatt said: "I thought we missed Tayls tonight and that highlights and shows what Tayls does for this team.

"There was no-one really dominating with his voice, no-one really putting in some good, solid and strong tackles to let them know that they were in a game.

"I thought we were just too nice. It was a friendly, but they wanted it more than us and I don't like saying that about my teams, but like I said it's a rude awakening for everyone.

"It's now back to the drawing board, back to working hard, but I must say again credit to them because I thought they were outstanding."