WORCESTER City are hoping their overnight stop ahead of today's Skrill North match at Barrow (3pm) will help bring them success.

The Blue and Whites took the unusual step of travelling up the M6 for the Cumbria clash yesterday and staying in a hotel to break up the 190-mile journey.

It is not a tactic City employ too often as it is expensive and the Aggborough club are not flushed with cash.

But when such a distance is involved, Worcester feel it will be prudent to be able to have a leisurely trip to Holker Street today rather than four hours sitting in a coach.

In the past, City have taken overnight stops for jaunts to the non-league outposts of Barrow's Cumbrian neighbours Workington and Blyth Spartans, in Northumberland.

They may look to do so again when they visit the former next month but, with relegation still not off the agenda, City are determined to be in the best shape possible to face Barrow.

Manager Carl Heeley, whose side are 10 points above the bottom three, said: "It's a long way and the thought process is, although Workington is slightly further, we still need some points at the moment. There is still a lot of work to do.

"We are going to prepare correctly for it and then reassess the Workington trip nearer the time."

Barrow and Workington are Worcester's longest trips of the campaign, closely followed by Harrogate Town and next Saturday's visit to North Ferriby United near Hull.

Guiseley and Bradford Park Avenue are also lengthy journeys, with this season's matches yielding mixed results.

City won 1-0 at Guiseley last month, courtesy of Aaron Brown's headed goal, but went down 6-1 at Bradford's Horsfall Stadium in their first fixture of 2014. The trip to Harrogate ended in a 2-0 defeat in November.

However, Worcester also have a fair amount of relatively local matches to offset the travelling against the likes of Telford United, Solihull Moors, Hednesford, Leamington, Gloucester, Oxford and Brackley.

They are due to visit Leamington on Saturday, April 5, and Hednesford's Keys Park two weeks later for the final away match of the season.

Meanwhile, today's match will also see City reunited with former player Alex Meechan, who is currently assistant player-manager to Darren Edmondson at Barrow.

Meechan played six games for Worcester last season, including scoring the winner on his debut in the 2-1 success at Boston United in October 2012.