BARROW AFC’s fringe players will be eager to feature against Bromley tomorrow after playing a midweek friendly at Carlisle United.

Manager Paul Cox fielded eight members of his Bluebirds squad who have seen little action of late on Tuesday – as well as three trialists – giving them the chance to impress ahead of the final 10 games of the National League season.

Young goalkeeper Danny Eccles, Dave Symington, Steve Williams, Mo Fofana, Neil Ashton, Alex-Ray Harvey – who came on for 45 minutes of the 3-2 win against Altrincham last week – Andy Haworth and Jason Walker were the men to play in North Cumbria.

Tomorrow’s match is the first opportunity for that octet to feature in competitive action, with Cox happy with what they showed him in North Cumbria.

“It was a good exercise,” said the Barrow boss. “Carlisle had a very strong side out, with a lot of first-team experience in it.

“These games behind closed doors are for one thing, and one thing only, for me – to get the players who have had inactivity through injury or through just being unlucky not to be in the 11 game time.

“All the players got a good 90 minutes under their belt, because I think everyone is going to be needed between now and the end of the season.

“I like to give players the best possible chance to prove that they want to be at the football club. The way to do that is with their performances when they get a chance to get out on the pitch.

“I’ve given all the players the best opportunity to convince me that they want to be here next season.”

He added: “If you look at Al-Ray’s performance on Saturday when he came on, I thought he affected the game in a massive, positive way.

“We gave him 90 minutes so he is in the plans for Saturday.

“Having Mo Fofana back in the fold and getting 90 minutes under his belt, giving game time to people like Steve Williams, these are all going to be important players for us in the coming games.

“I can’t see us staying injury-free and everyone keeping the same standards and form over the next 10 games, so we need these players.

“It was a workout to give them the best possible chance to show me what they can do.”

Three other fringe players – Ashley Grimes, Dan Pilkington and David Mellor – missed out on the match against Carlisle due to a virus.

They have been kept away from the rest of the squad in a bid to stop the illness spreading, and are unlikely to feature tomorrow.

Cox added: “We need to isolate the virus and be professional with it, because we don’t want it spreading through the camp.

“They’ve been off for a couple of days to try and get some recuperation in.”