Barrow’s play-off dream will go down to the final day after Bradford City claimed a late 2-1 win at the SO Legal Stadium.
Pete Wild only made one change to the side which fell to a 4-2 defeat, away from home on Saturday afternoon against Doncaster Rovers with Cole Stockton returning to the starting line-up as Sam Foley dropped down to the bench.
The game began with the Bluebirds pressing Bradford high up the pitch in the hope of forcing the opposition into a mistake however, The Bantams stood firm and weathered the Cumbrian storm.
As the first half progressed, the away side began to pile on the pressure and push the Bluebirds back towards their own box with the pendulum beginning to swing in favour of the Yorkshire outfit.
And it was Bradford who broke the deadlock in the 29th minute when their corner found Bobby Pointon striding into the box and he rifled the ball into the back of the net past Paul Farman.
As the first half ended, the Bluebirds were struggling to get the ball up the pitch with the pressure from Bradford forcing the home side to give the ball away.
The last chance of the opening half fell to Calum Kavanaugh after he received the ball from a curling cross from Tyreik Wright, but his shot was straight at Farman in the net.
The second half began with The Bluebirds bursting out the blocks hoping to get back into the game quickly with a huge chance coming for Cole Stockton when he beat Sam Walker to the ball in the penalty area. He then carried it around the keeper and took on a shot from a tight angle, but the resulting shot was defended off the line superbly by the Bantams.
With the second half flowing all in favour of the Bluebirds, Stockton won the home side a freekick from distance after he found himself on the end of a poorly judged challenge from Bantams defender Ciaran Kelly.
Kian Spence stood over the resulting set-piece, with Dean Campbell acting as a decoy, but Spence rifled his shot towards the Holker Street End with the ball sneaking underneath the body of Walker in the net.
Wild’s men continued to ramp up the pressure with Emile Acquah coming close to putting the Cumbrians in the lead when Gotts played a headed pass to Acquah whose left-footed shot was high and rising past the Bradford net.
But it was the Bantams who won it when Cook played a neat through ball into the path of Tyler Smith who finished emphatically into the bottom right corner, to put Bradford back in the lead.
Barrow XI: Farman, Campbell (Whitfield 76’), Canavan ©, Spence, Newby, Gotts, Chester, Stephenson (Worrall 76’), Acquah (Telford 82’), Stockton (Proctor 76’), Feely.
Words by Dylan Whitbread
