Jordan Bowery strikes at Barrow to make it four away wins in a row for Mansfield Town

The midfielder pounced early in the second half as the Stags ground out a hard-earned win at the side that began the day a place above them.

The Stags side showed one change from last weekend with Kellan Gordon missing out with injury at right wing back, replaced by Bowery, who had recovered from midweek illness.

John-Joe O'Toole was also deemed fit enough to start on the bench after a nasty gash over his eye in midweek while Hiram Boateng also made a welcome return to the bench from his hamstring injury.

But Kieran Wallace, who felt ill during the midweek Papa John's Trophy game, was not risked on the bench.

Precious little was created in an uneventful first half.

It wasn’t until the 20th minute that the first shot in anger was released, Barrow’s Sam Foley failing to trouble Christy Pym from distance.

Harrison Neal did have Pym scrambling with a strike from a similar distance but he also failed to find the target.

Mansfield may have been second best in a half punctuated by countless fouls but they enjoyed a decent spell just ahead of the break and came close to taking the lead, Stephen Quinn seeing his finish blocked.

George Maris also created an opening two minutes from the whistle, when a clearance at a Mansfield corner was neatly chested down. However, his first-time finish found the belligerent Barrow backline standing firm to block.

It took the visitors less than five minutes of the second half to make the breakthrough. Ollie Hawkins rose highest to head Quinn’s corner on target.

Harrison Neal produced a heroic goal line clearance only to see Bowery pounce, nodding in the ball at point-blank range.

With their tails up, the Stags almost doubled their lead three minutes later. Quinn volleyed over from Bowery’s deflected shot and Bowery himself was inches from a second, once again with a rebound off the bar, Patrick Brough just scrambling the ball to safety.

Quinn could have virtually sealed the win when he picked off a loose pass across the back line but his finish went straight into the grateful hands of Paul Farman.

Barrow’s leading scorer, Josh Gordon, did have a couple of sighters, the clearest from a dangerous whipped cross by Ben Whitfield. But his glancing header was agonisingly wide for the hosts.

Pym performed late heroics for Mansfield, denying substitute Billy Waters with a wonderful save to push away a shot that bounced awkwardly on 87 minutes and the Stags professionally saw out seven nervous minutes of stoppage time for a hard-fought victory to leapfrog their fading hosts, who have now lost four in a row.

BARROW (4-2-3-1): Farman; Warren, Canavan, Ray, Brough; Neal, Foley (White 72); Gordon, Gotts, Whitfield; Moyo (Waters 58). SUBS NOT USED: Lillis, McClelland, Nwabuokei, Kenlock.

MANSFIELD (3-5-2): Pym; Hewitt, Hawkins, Harbottle (O’Toole 68); Bowery, Clarke (Boateng 67), Maris (Law 83), Quinn (Gale 83), McLaughlin (Perch 46); Lapslie, Akins. SUBS NOT USED: Flinders, Collin.

REFEREE: Tom Nield.

ATTENDANCE: 3,713 (291 away).