Shaun Whalley scored a superb early goal to overcome promotion-chasing Barrow and move Accrington Stanley further away from the bottom two in League Two on Saturday.

It was a third successive win for the Reds who, after being at the bottom of the table at the beginning of October, charged towards mid-table ahead of the 3pm kick-offs.

It was also a welcome first clean sheet of the campaign for John Dollan’s side.

Connor O’Brien returned after international duty while Liam Coyle came into the starting line-up, in place of Seamus Conneely and Donald Love.

Stanley had a dream start on eight minutes. On the counter-attack, Jimmy Knowles clipped a ball forward to Whalley who raced onto it, cut inside and fired home from the edge of the area. The prefect finish for his third goal of the campaign.

Barrow has plenty of possession but did not really trouble Billy Crellin. However, they came close on 16 minutes with Sam Foley’s strike narrowly wide.

The Reds put a couple of dangerous balls into the box as they hunted for a second while Kian Spence fired over for Barrow from eight yards on 30 minutes.

Stanley almost gave themselves a two-goal cushion on 33 minutes from a well-worked corner routine, but Coyle’s header was inches over the bar.

A Dara Costelloe strike was narrowly wide just before half time as, while the Bluebirds had more first half possession, Stanley had the better chances.

The Reds were on the defensive for the early part of the second half as Barrow pressed around the home box without testing Crellin.

At the other end, Costelloe had a shot collected by Wyll Stanway as chances continued to be at a premium.

On 70 minutes the visitors forced a series of corners and, from one, Thoe Vassell’s header was cleared off the line by substitute Donald Love.

Dom Telford fired a strike over on 80 minutes, while Crellin pushed away a Ged Garner shot and kept put a Spence free-kick in added time as the Reds held on for another memorable win at the Wham Stadium