Barrow slipped to their second home defeat of the season when they went down 2-1 to Rochdale.
A Jake Beesley double was enough to give Dale the win despite the home side having more of the possession (54-46%) and having more shots (13-12).
Significantly though, Rochdale had more efforts on target (5-3) and overall deserved the win.
The game had been delayed by half an hour as the referee wasn’t happy with the surface following two days of heavy rain.
Rochdale were first out of the traps and when Jimmy Keohane found himself with space in the area and home keeper Paul Farman did well to come out and block the shot.
The visitors kept up the pressure and Keohane was just wide with another snap drive while Beesley headed narrowly over the bar from a corner.
It took nearly 20 minutes before Barrow offered a goal threat but Josh Kay saw his shot palmed away by keeper Joel Coleman and a follow-up effort from Robbie Gotts was blocked.
The opening goal came on 28 minutes, although Barrow felt there had more of a hint of handball by Beesley as he gathered in a pass and drove in behind the Barrow defence before drilling a low shot past Farman.
Manager Mark Cooper clearly read the riot act at half-time because there was more urgency about Barrow in the second half and on 56 minutes they were level.
Josh Gordon was brought down by Corey O’Keefe in the area and top scorer Ollie Banks was entrusted with the penalty. It was actually saved by Coleman but rebounded to Banks who headed in the equaliser.
The hosts had been invigorated by their manager’s talk and enthused by the equaliser and suddenly Rochdale looked vulnerable.
Substitute Luke James had a chance to give them the lead when he picked up a good pass from Gotts but his shot on the run was blocked.
But on 72 minutes the game turned again. A quick counterattack by the visitors saw O’Keefe feel the ball across the six-yard area where Beesley stabbed his side into the lead again.
The goal seemed to knock Barrow’s confidence and Rochdale looked comfortable until the closing stages when the hosts rallied.
James had an opportunity to salvage a point but a Rochdale defender earned applause from his teammates with an important block.
