Port Vale fell to a 2-0 defeat at home to Barrow as two goals either side of half-time secured the three points for the visitors.
The opening 20 minutes proved to be a tight affair with neither side able to carve out a genuine opportunity.
But with 22 minutes on the clock, the visitors took the lead when Scott Quigley broke free of the Vale defence, charging into the box before curling the ball into the bottom-corner past Scott Brown to give Barrow the advantage.
Quigley tried to double his goal tally and the visitors lead with ten minutes until half-time when he received the ball on the edge of the box, before blasting the ball high and wide over Brown’s goal.
With 42 minutes gone, Scott Burgess’ free-kick from wide tested Joel Dixon in the Barrow goal as his ball into the box seemed to be looping into the back of the net, only for Dixon to just tip it away from danger, with Vale trailing by a goal at the break.
The second half couldn’t have started in a worse fashion for the Vale, when four minutes into the restart goalscorer Quigley drilled a low-ball across the box, with Patrick Brough on hand to tuck the ball into the back of the net inside the six-yard box, to double Barrow’s lead.
Scott Brown did well to keep the visitor’s advantage at two goals, when a one-two between Quigley and Luke James resulted in the former receiving the ball inside the box, and shooting towards Brown’s bottom-right corner, but Brown was equal to the effort, and parried the ball away from goal.
Vale’s attempts at pulling a goal back in the game were thwarted by the Barrow defence, with Scott Burgess’ 72nd minute effort looking like it was destined for the back of the net, before a Barrow body got in the way of his seemingly goal bound effort.
A scramble in the Barrow box led to Nathan Smith getting a shot off at goal, but his effort was blocked by a Barrow defender, meaning it was a formality for Dixon to gather.
Despite piling on the pressure in the latter stages of the game, we were unable to find a goal to bring us back into the game and potentially salvage a point, with a trip to Bradford City on the horizon on Tuesday evening.
Port Vale: Brown, Mills, Smith, Crookes, Fitzpatrick, Joyce, Burgess, Whitehead (Amoo 45’), Rodney, Hurst (Robinson 60’), Pope.
Unused subs: Visser, Brisley, Legge, Bailey, McKirdy.
Barrow: Dixon, Brough, Platt, Hird, Brown, Kay, Beadling, Taylor, Biggins (Taylor 84’), Quigley, James.
Unused subs: Lillis, Jones, Wilson, Angus, Reid.