Barrow put their mini rut to bed with a dramatic late winner against Cheltenham.

The Bluebirds had endured a “tough” fortnight as they were knocked out of the EFL Cup at Premier League Chelsea before back-to-back league defeats on the road at Gillingham and Doncaster.

But a welcome return to Holker Street yielded a much-needed win for Stephen Clemence’s squad, which has also been hit with a string of frustrating injuries.

Ryan Bowman opened the scoring for the Robins just before half-time.

But towering forward Emile Acquah nodded home an equaliser early in the second half before Andy Dallas came off the bench to score a welcome 85th-minute winner.

“Results don’t come much better than that,” beamed assistant coach Robbie Stockdale. “It doesn’t matter how you win.

“We’ve never used the schedule or injuries as an excuse because it gives opportunities to other players. But it has been tough. The travelling that we’ve done, the late nights and then being back on the road early is tough.

“To get back to our home ground and to get a result is really satisfying.

“You want your centre forwards to score goals. It was two well-crafted goals and good finishes.

“It’s not been easy for Andy in particular. He probably hasn’t got the minutes he thought he should have, but all he can do is go on the pitch and produce and he did that.

“Big Emile is always going to be a threat. It was a fantastic cross and a good header.

“You have to be clinical in tight games and we showed the clinical edge.

“We’re pleased with the way we saw the game out. We ended with a fairly inexperienced team at the end and not the biggest, no disrespect to the lads who came on.

“They’re pumping balls into the box, you have to stand up to the challenge and we did.”

It was a literal game of two halves for Clemence’s charges, who failed to put their stamp on the contest until after the break.

And on the game, Stockdale assessed: “I felt the game was scrappy for large periods. We knew that it would be difficult in terms of how Cheltenham would play and put us under pressure with balls into the box.

“At any level, but particularly the level we play, you have to earn the right and then show you’re a good football team.

“I felt a bit disappointed that we got dragged into the game they played in the first half. We spoke at half time, nice and calmly and showed them pictures and explained how we thought we could hurt them.

“Getting the goal just after half time was great because it buys you time. From then on I thought we were the better team. It buys you a bit more time and there’s less panic.

“We think we’ve got good footballers in the team. No matter who plays we want them to get on the football and express themselves.

“I thought we deserved the win and to get the late winner was nice.”