After four straight League Two defeats Barrow ended the rot with a 1-1 draw at Gillingham.
But it could have been better for the Bluebirds as Josh Kay had a weak penalty saved by the Gills keeper Glenn Morris.
There had been few chances for either side in the first half although both Kay and Hakeeb Adelakun had fired in strong shots from distance which cleared the bar without troubling the respective keepers.
The breakthrough came on 35 minutes with a spectacular finish by Kay as he twisted in the air to get on the end of a Ben Whitfield cross and volley into the bottom corner.
From the re-start Barrow took the fight to Gillingham and within five minutes both Whitfield and Tom White had tested Morris.
A goal then could well have sewn-up the points and they had an obvious opportunity from the penalty spot. Elkan Baggott had unceremoniously bundled over David Moyo on 58 minutes but Kay’s effort was easily saved by Morris.
Gillingham equalised on 74 minutes when Indonesia international Baggott rose well at Will Wright’s corner to head his second goal in successive matches.
Gillingham, who were stretching their unbeaten run to five League games, were closest to winning it through Scott Kashket but Barrow survived for a welcome point.
Manager Pete Wild said: “A point on the road is always a good point but actually the dressing room was gutted we didn’t win it.
“If that penalty had gone in I think we would have gone on to win three or four.
“But when it was saved you could feel the whole ground lift and they got behind their side.
“I thought we controlled the game for 70 minutes and even when they equalised we managed things very well.
“We spend a lot of time on set-pieces so it was particularly disappointing to concede from one
“I think the fact that we came to Gillingham, got a point and feel disappointed shows how far we’ve come as a football club.”
