Barrow boss David Dunn believes his side will only improve following their 1-1 opening day draw against Stevenage.

The Bluebirds were forced to settle for a share of the spoils on their return to the Football League following a 48 year absence after last season’s basement boys levelled late on.

The hosts took a 1-0 lead into the break after Dior Angus slotted home from the spot on 12 minutes following a foul by Remeao Hutton.

But they were unable to find a killer second goal and paid the price when former Barrow man Inih Effiong levelled with a penalty with four minutes to go.

“We will get better. It is a new group of players and we will improve as the season goes on,” the Barrow boss said.

“It was the first Football League game here in years so maybe nerves were there. I want to take the positives.

“We are off the mark and hopefully that will calm people down. It is a bit disappointing that we could not hold on to the win.

“I expected a bit more from our performance to be honest. In possession we got sucked in a little bit into playing how they want to play.

“They are about the first and second balls and being direct.

“We did not use the ball properly enough, but when we did get it down we looked decent and a real threat - we just did not do it well enough today.

“Once we scored the goal I thought it might settle us own but at times we invited too much pressure from them and gave them too much opportunity

“We created chances in the second half. A second goal would have killed the game off. If we had got that we would have been home and dry.

“We have to take the second goal and kill the game

“They put us under pressure in the last 10-15 minutes. We will go back to training and work hard. I can’t fault the work ethic and determination of this bunch.”

Dunn also revealed he is still targeting fresh faces to bolster the Holker Street squad.

“We are looking at a few players, but we are all in the same boat and trying to get the same players,”he said.

“We have lost out on a couple due to wages, but we have a real togetherness here so we need to make sure we get the right character. We have to be patient and get the right man.”

And Dunn added he couldn’t wait to see the fans back once again.

“It is a real shame for the supporters that they couldn’t be at the game.

“It would be a real tribute to the fans who were around when Barrow went out of the Football League. It will be great when we see fans back again, everyone is itching to have them back and the atmosphere would really help drive us on.”