Mansfield Town will be bidding for a fourth successive away win when they visit Barrow on Saturday.
And after earning plaudits from Man Utd’s Under-21s coach in mid-week, Barrow boss Pete Wild has earned more praise from Stags manager Nigel Clough.
Last season Clough steered his side to a 3-1 win at Holker Street when the Bluebirds were fighting desperately to stay in the Division.
They had Farrend Rawson sent off and he had also been red-carded earlier in the season when Barrow won 1-0 at Field Mill.
At the moment Mansfield trail Barrow (who are sixth) by one place and one point and Clough says: “They survived last season and that was a big achievement for them. Since then they have changed the manager, who brought in fresh players, and they look a different side this season.
“I think it’s down to the confidence of staying up. The new manager has brought some new players in and they have got off to a great start.
“It’s amazing what confidence can do for the team if you get a few good results early in a season. I hope we can keep 11 men on the pitch this time, that would help.
“But we want to play the same as we have in our last few away games. When you think of our last two performances at home we haven’t won, yet we’ve won our last three on the road, sometimes it works out you get the points when you don’t expect them.”
Mansfield beat Derby 6-5 on penalties after a `1-1 draw on Tuesday and Clough will have to check on three players who took knocks or haven’t felt well since – John Joe O’Toole, Kieran Wallace and Jordan Bowery.
There will also have to be a check on Hiram Boateng who played his first game on Tuesday after recovering from a hamstring injury.
