A LATE Louis Reed goal saw plucky Barrow suffer a heartbreaking 2-1 defeat at Swindon Town.

It looked like the battling Bluebirds would take a point back to Cumbria after Matt Platt had cancelled out Josh Davison’s opener with seven minutes to go.

But they were level for just three minutes after Reed slotted home with five minutes left to play.

It was a bitter bill for Barrow to swallow after they had doggedly defended to stay in the game during a spell of pressure midway through the second half.

The visitors failed to register a shot on target throughout the first half and were perhaps lucky to only trail by one at the break.

But they made a much better fist of it after half-time, with Josh Kay, Ollie Banks, Joe Grayson and John Rooney all seeing chances go begging before they finally levelled.

It was a return to familiar surroundings for boss Phil Brown, who was sacked by Swindon in November 2018 with promotion-chasing Town struggling in 17th place in the table. But there will have been very few, if any, fans in the away end who remembered the Bluebirds’ last visit to the County Ground – a 2-0 defeat all the way back in May 1969.

The visitors settled well with Matt Platt heading just over from Rooney’s fourth-minute corner.

Platt sent a header wide after getting on the end of a Robbie Gotts cross.

But they fell behind when Josh Davison converted Jonathan Williams’ cross from close range on 22 minutes.

Rooney could only find the side-netting from Josh Kay’s low cross on 34 minutes.

Barrow had a let off when Harry McKirdy blazed over after a flowing Swindon move carved open the defence five minutes later.

McKirdy shot narrowly wide seconds after the restart as Barrow immediately came under pressure.

It led to the Barrow boss having seen enough as he made two changes after 50 minutes, with Tom Beadling being replaced by Banks and Connor Brown by Grayson.

It seemed to have an immediate impact with Grayson and Banks having shots saved before Kay fired the rebound just wide.

Nobody was able to apply the finishing touch to a dangerous Rooney cross two minutes later.

Rooney then saw a volley saved as Barrow continued to enjoy a good spell.

Jack Payne had a shot deflected wide on 64 minutes, before Paul Farman made a brilliant save from Barry five minutes later.

Grayson cleared a McKirdy shot off the line on 71 minutes after the striker went around Farman.

Rooney saw a deflected shot tipped over by Lewis Ward four minutes later as Barrow kept fighting hard.

Matt Platt slotted home Rooney’s cross to level with seven minutes left.

But they took their eye off the prize and slipped to defeat when Reed smashed home after beating his man.

Kay was close to levelling once again with a minute left when his well-hit shot was saved by Ward.