Barrow moved a step nearer safety with a valuable 2-0 win at Colchester courtesy of two second-half goals.
It was a double whammy, too, as Colchester are in deep trouble themselves, third bottom and only three points above the relegation zone.
Barrow can’t breathe easy yet but they are now seven points clear of the bottom two and heading in the right direction.
It was rather a drab first-half but Paul Farman did have to make an early save when he got down smartly to keep out a low drive from the hosts’ top scorer Freddie Sears.
Barrow’s Patrick Brough thought he had given his side the lead when a rocket shot from the edge of the area deflected behind for a corner when it seemed destined for the net.
From the corner debutant Jacob Wakeling almost made it a scoring one with a glancing header which flew wide of the far post.
After James Jones saw a shot parried by home keeper Jake Turner there was another headed chance for Wakeling but again it was just off target.
Barrow had built up a head of steam before the interval and Jones was wide with a header from an Anthony Glennon corner.
The half-time break did not dim their approach and Tom White was close when he let fly powerfully and Turner had to react smartly to parry the shot.
Will Harris, another new debutant forward, curled a shot over the bar and Luke James tried his luck from 25 yards only for Turner to hold on confidently.
It had been a lively five minutes and it was no real surprise when Barrow got their noses in front on 53 minutes.
Brough had surged forward and when he drilled a testing low cross, fiercely struck into the box, defender Tom Dallison could do nothing else but steer it.
Colchester responded well with Sears testing Farman and the Barrow defence having to contend with a series of low crosses fizzed across the six yard box.
The Bluebirds had a fortunate escape on 74 minutes when Luke Chambers got onto one of those low crosses into the box but couldn’t control his shot as iot came back off the bar.
Barrow eventually seemed to have seen-off the Colchester response and started creating their own chances again.
The two substitutes Josh Kay and Jamie Devitt twice combined but each time it was Devitt who had the final shot and Turner saved both comfortably.
But the points were wrapped-up in stoppage time when White slid a fine pass through to Kay who scored with a clinical finish to the delight of the 112 travelling fans.
