Patrick Brough fired a second half double as Barrow claimed three precious points by completing their first double of the season with victory over ten-man Mansfield Town.

The win was built on another afternoon of hard work from The Bluebirds and it proved enough to hoist Rob Kelly’s men out of League Two’s bottom two.

Brough struck twice within three second half minutes to produce the knockout blow for The Stags, who had earlier been reduced to ten men after

Caretaker boss Kelly opted to make four changes to his starting eleven as Jamie Devitt and Chris Taylor were given the nod in midfield, while Josh Kay and Tom Davies returned from illness and injury respectively.

It was Devitt who produced the first effort on goal of the afternoon as he strode forward into the Mansfield half and let fly from thirty yards but his shot was dragged wide of the target.

In truth though, there were more whistles from the referee than moments of drama in the opening 20 minutes as both sides probed for an opening in a tightly contested encounter.

Devitt provided a bit of inspiration just after the half-hour when he dropped a teasing free-kick on to the edge of the six-yard box which Scott Quigley got on the end of but could only prod wide of the post.

Mansfield responded with a good chance of their own as the ball was swung into the penalty area from the left and skipper Ollie Clarke arrived six yards out to meet it with his head but he sent it wastefully over the bar.

Good work from Jordan Bowery set strike partner Jamie Reid through on the Barrow goal but Joel Dixon darted quickly from his line to go down bravely at the striker’s feet before the Bluebirds were able to just about clear the loose ball as Bowery loitered with intent.

There was a tentative start to the second half too; Devitt tried his luck once more from a free kick 25 yards out but this time the wall did its job and Town were able to clear.

The visitors then came close to opening the scoring when Harry Charsley unloaded from long-range but Dixon watched it all the way and produced a good fingertip save.

There was drama midway through the second half when Quigley turned cleverly away from Ryan Sweeney on the edge of the box and the Stags defender was shown a second yellow card to reduce the hosts to ten men.

No sooner had Nigel Clough’s side adjusted to that setback when keeper Aiden Stone went down injured and they were forced to bring on back-up stopper Marek Stech.

Quigley produced a wonderful pass to set Patrick Brough into the box on the left hand side and he fed the ball inside to Jason Taylor who had plenty of the goal to aim at but sent his shot wide of the far post.

Mansfield responded with some good football of their own at the other end as Kellan Gordon exchanged passes with Jamie Reid to move inside from the right before curling a shot just wide of the far post.

The Bluebirds got their noses in front on 74 minutes when Town failed to deal with a long ball forward and, as the defender took a heavy touch, Brough picked his pocket and ran through to slip a tidy finish under substitute keeper Stech and strike a vital blow for the hosts.

It was a blow Mansfield struggled to recover from and Barrow went further in front just two minutes later when a ball in from the right was misjudged by a Stags centre-back and Brough was there once again to ram home a second from close range.

Quigley could have added further gloss to a much-needed win on 89 minutes when he bullied his way into the penalty area only to see his low drive really well held by Stech down to his left.

The front man tested Stech again in injury time when he drove in to the right side of the box to draw another good parry from Stech, with Brough coming agonisingly close to prodding the rebound home for what would have been an unlikely hat-trick.

Full Time: Barrow 2 Mansfield Town 0

Barrow: Dixon, Barry, Davies, Brough, J Jones, Ntlhe, J Taylor, C Taylor (Beadling 52), Kay (James 83), Devitt, Quigley.
Subs not used: Lillis, Eardley, Thomas, Banks.

Mansfield Town: Stone (Stech 67), Benning, Sweeney, Rawson, Charsley (Perch 64), O Clarke, Bowery (Sinclair 78), Gordon (Wright 78), Quinn (Ward 78), Reid, Law.
Subs not used: O’Keefe, J Clarke.

Booked: O Clarke, Sweeney, Gordon, Reid.

Sent-off: Sweeney.

Referee: Carl Boyeson.

Attendance: Behind Closed Doors