Barrow boss Mark Cooper felt his side were lucky to leave 10-man Mansfield with a 1-0 victory.

Ollie Banks hit the winner with a second-half penalty after Mark Ellis had been pushed in the back.

Barrow then survived some late scares with Ollie Clarke, Danny Johnson and Oli Hawkins all going close.

But Cooper was upset at his side’s wasteful first-half finishing which saw Josh Kay hit the bar when well placed and Patrick Brough have a shot cleared off the line.

He said: “It was not a great performance from us. We surrendered the ball and we needed to play with the ball better, that’s how we are set up.

“If I’m honest, we were a little lucky to come out at the end with a win.

“We should have been ahead early, we had three really good opportunities to score and put pressure on Mansfield.

“It was a good opportunity for us to get in front, you don’t get anything for free and we have to put those chances away as you know what is coming the other end.

“We will have to be much better than that going forward but credit to the players, they dug it out.

“I am pleased with the result. It was a difficult afternoon with the wind and the rain, especially in the first half.

“The players stuck in and defended magnificently, Mark Ellis was outstanding again.

“It was too much percentage for me and too much tossing the coin and seeing what happened.

“I am pleased with how we managed the game at the end.”

Mansfield boss Nigel Clough was again left counting the cost of luck going against his side, who had Farrend Rawson sent off late on.

He said: “It was never a penalty. It was a challenge at the back post like you see throughout the game and not given.

“There was no pen given for several seconds. The fourth official said it was thinking time and that worries me tremendously.

“The decisions the officials have made have contributed to us losing.

“The penalty was a big knockback as we were settling into the second half and we were pressing.

“We are not getting one break at the minute with anything anywhere on the pitch.

“I thought the least we deserved was a clean sheet and a point.

“The penalty knocked us, when things go against you, you see heads dropped.

“It is tough times, we have seven players out and we can’t win a game to save our lives.

“Every single thing is going against us and it feels like the world is against us.

“We can’t do anything to legislate against a penalty being given against us like that.”