Avenue have the chance to bounce back from Saturday's heavy defeat at Hinckley United when they make the long journey to Barrow tonight but once again there will be enforced changes.

The inexperienced centre back pairing of Michael Naylor and Jason Wray that was forced into the fray at Hinckley will be broken as Naylor is ruled out through work commitments.

"When it rains it pours," was Avenue manager Carl Shutt's assessment of the situation. "Michael was not fully fit but that isn't a criticism, it is a statement of fact. He stood in for us when called on and played better than we could have expected. One or two of the young lads did their best in exceptional circumstances."

Shutt is hoping Naylor's omission will be balanced out by the return of Ryan Crossley but he is not certain of his selection options just yet.

Another factor could be the three loan deals he is working on.

"There are actually four players who we are having discussions with or about with their present clubs. One would be a permanent signing. He might be getting his contract paid up by his club and we have permission to let him train with us. The others would be loans," said Shutt.

"The talks are advanced so it is possible that something could happen before tonight's game. If that is the case I would be more than ready to include one or more new players in the squad.

"Some of the kids have performed above expectations but this is a very tough league with a lot of former pros dotted around and games like Saturday's are hard on young lads.

"You hope it will be a good lesson for them but at the same time you don't want to shatter their confidence.

"The defeat at Hinckley didn't do too much harm to our league position. We are still bottom but the other clubs in trouble have not pulled away from us.

A couple of wins will make all the difference. Barrow might be having second thoughts about facing us right now.

They will have seen we were beaten 4-0 at the weekend but will also know we beat the leaders 3-1 the previous Saturday.

"They might be expecting a backlash tonight from Saturday, as I am. I expect our players to fancy getting their pride back in this one. If we don't get the right reaction it will tell me and my staff a lot about the character of some players."

Avenue (from): Britton, Quinn, Ryan, Walsh, Wray, Greaves, Lennon, Ekoku, Oleksewycz, Smith, Coubrough, Mumbly, Clayton, Ruscrow, Shutt, Crossley, Ndukba.