Manager Ian Evatt revealed the extent of the injury that forced off midfielder Jason Taylor in the first half of Barrow AFC’s 1-0 victory over Maidstone United.

Taylor was captaining the Bluebirds in the absence of injured skipper Josh Granite, but was forced from the field after just 23 minutes at Holker Street after taking an elbow to the face.

The 31-year-old has started in all but one of AFC’s games this season since signing from AFC Fylde and any prolonged absence would be a real blow ahead of a crucial period of fixtures.

They’ll be heading into them full of confidence in any case, after Tyler Smith’s poacher’s goal gave them their third win in four games.

Evatt said: “He had a really nasty elbow and I’m not sure how the referee missed it, to be honest.

“It’s knocked four teeth out and it’s probably broken his jaw as well. We’re waiting on the x-ray on that.

“It was a nasty elbow and this is why I get frustrated with referees and the inconsistencies at times, but finger crossed, Jason gets the all-clear from the x-ray.”

Referee Joe Johnson was involved in more controversy in the closing stages when he sent off Rhys Norrington-Davies for pulling back Maidstone striker Elliott Romian, despite it not being a clear goalscoring opportunity.

It came in a period where Barrow were making things hard for themselves, having controlled the majority of the match, with Evatt relieved their defensive lapses didn’t prove costly.

He said: “The boys were outstanding again. We created the better chances in the first half and their ‘keeper made a couple of great saves.

“The second half, again, we’ve hit the post, we’re looking like we’re creating chances, then we got the goal with Tyler doing what Tyler does and then you think we’re going to go on and win the game comfortably.

“Then we kind of went back into an old mode of trying to shoot ourselves in the foot and take too many risks at the back because the boys were playing so well and got a bit overconfident and sloppy.”