Mark Cooper hailed Barrow’s battling spirit as they held on for a goalless draw at Rochdale.

The Bluebirds boss watched the game from the stand as he serves an eight-game ban for reference to gender during an exchange with an assistant referee earlier in the season.

And while his side came under the cosh for long periods, he was delighted with their willingness to dig in and make it hard for the home side.

“I’m very pleased with the point, it’s a good point,” Cooper said. “Rochdale are a really good football team, very expansive, so I’m pleased with the result and it takes us another point further away from the bottom.

“We had a couple of great chances and didn’t quite convert them, but we dug in really well.

“We lost our way a little bit in the second half and changed it, tried to get a bit more control and be a bit more solid. Of course, when you’re trying to go for the win you leave yourself open at the back at times and that’s what happened. So we had to defend and we had to stitch stuff up at times.

“But I can never question the attitude or commitment of the boys – they were fantastic.

“They are desperate not to get beat and they showed that.

“They gave everything and I’m pleased we got something from the game.

“We played some good football but at times we came under a bit of pressure and we needed to stem the flow.”

Barrow goalkeeper Paul Farman was the stand-out performer, saving well after just two minutes to deny Tahvon Campbell when he raced through on goal. That set the tone for the afternoon, with the stopper frustrating Jimmy Keohane, Max Clark, Eoghan O’Connell and Campbell again.

Though second best in both periods, Barrow finished strongly in each half.

Ollie Banks sent a header from a John Rooney corner against the crossbar at the end of the first half, while a glancing header from Aaron Amadi-Holloway flew inches wide. Matt Platt wasted a late chance – a free header at the back post from which he failed to really test Jay Lynch in the Dale goal.

Rochdale boss Robbie Stockdale said: “We had the major chance in the game really early on when Tahvon Campbell goes through and the goalkeeper makes a good save.

“After that they hit the bar from a set-piece and then Jay Lynch hasn’t had any saves to make and I feel we created the possibility to have a chance on several occasions and maybe we were just missing the final quality pass or cross to set someone else up for an easy goal.

“Their goalkeeper has made two very good saves, so we are creating and on another day we might score one or two of them. We’ve just got to keep believing and the chances will come.”