VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE

BARROW AFC 1 (Diarra 90) WREXHAM 1 (Rutherford 90)

MOUSSA Diarra was the Barrow AFC saviour as he scored a 97th-minute equaliser and earned the Bluebirds a 1-1 draw with Wrexham.

Former AFC man Paul Rutherford looked to have given the Welsh side the win with a 93rd-minute goal.

It came after Shaun Beeley and Jon Flatt combined to tragi-comic effect in defence to send the Wrexham fans wild.

But Diarra scored his second goal in as many games, meeting a half-cleared corner near the edge of the area and looping a perfectly-flighted header up and over stranded goalkeeper Chris Dunn and into an empty net.

It was an amazing end to a game which had seemed destined to end goalless and a point that might prove crucial come the end of the season.

AFC named an unchanged starting 11 from the win over Dagenham, with the only differences to the match-day squad on the bench.

Ross Hannah and Dan Rowe returned among the substitutes following minor injuries, giving Paul Cox extra options he has been without in recent weeks.

Barrow once again came up against a side defending strongly and relying on attacking on the break, spending the first 45 minutes looking for a way to break through to no effect.

There were occasional half-chances, the first falling to Liam Hughes after Moussa Diarra headed down a Paul Turnbull free-kick into the area, but the midfielder wildly volleyed over.

Wrexham’s Curtis Tilt made his presence known as a series of long throws or corners went into the area, saying hello to Diarra with a big hug and then being booked as he pulled back Shaun Tuton when a long raking pass had him running through on goal.

The free-kick which resulted from the latter incident was fired in just below the bar by Turnbull, and Chris Dunn struggled to push it up in the air before tipping it over the bar at the second attempt.

Barrow settled into a pattern of building moves and pressure which broke down in the final third, with the visitors occasionally threatening as they struck back quickly.

A Beeley throw into the area caused some level of confusion and Lindon Meikle ballooned an effort at Dunn, before Diarra was back in defence with a crucial intervention to take the ball from the feet of Jordan White as he broke into the area.

White headed over from the middle of the box under pressure from Beeley from a good Olly Marx cross as the half neared its end, but the first 45 minutes ended goalless, as it always seemed it would.

The pace was upped by both teams after the break, with play going quickly from one end to the other, often down the flanks, but never with anything dangerous played into the area.

A fast break set Ntumba Massanka free for Wrexham and into the Barrow area. It looked dangerous, but Nick Anderton was there at the key moment, sliding and sticking out a leg to take the ball away and avert the danger.

Inih Effiong came off the bench with little over an hour gone to try and give Barrow a cutting edge in attack, and it had an effect.

He met a Turnbull corner at the far post and headed down low, with Dunn scrambling across to turn the effort away.

A resulting free-kick from the left by-line was sent in again by Turnbull and it was Effiong once more at the far post, rising to meet it and directing his effort back across the face of goal but just wide.

Meikle showed guts and determination to beat his man and break into the Red Dragons area, forcing a save from Dunn as he came quickly off his line to meet him.

Hughes showed fine control to take the ball just inside the Wrexham half and run forward past defenders before firing low and hard from 18 yards but just past the near post.

Effiong brought the ball down but lofted well over the bar from distance as the hosts continued to dominate without the end product, Wrexham wasting time wherever possible and happy to go home with a point. Effiong went down in the area under pressure from Marx, but there was nothing given by referee Joe Johnson as the game entered six minutes of stoppages.

And then, against the entire run of play and all the odds, Wrexham looked like they had won it.

It was a situation completely of Barrow’s making as Beeley played a heavy back-pass to Flatt, who had Rutherford on him in an instant.

Flatt had to chest it down and then went to swing a boot and swipe it clear, but it was an air kick and Rutherford took the ball and had all the time in the world to play through Flatt’s legs and score.

That was surely it, but there was another late twist as Diarra met a half-cleared corner and looped a header into the back of the net from 18 yards with Dunn stranded in no-man’s land.

Barrow AFC: Jon Flatt, Shaun Beeley, Nick Anderton, Danny Livesey, Moussa Diarra, Liam Hughes, Alex-Ray Harvey, Paul Turnbull, Shaun Tuton, Richie Bennett (Inih Effiong 62), Lindon Meikle (Akil Wright 74).

Substitutes Not Used: Ross Hannah, Dan Rowe, Matt Platt.

Yellow Cards: Turnbull (90).

Wrexham: Chris Dunn, James Jennings, Martin Riley, Curtis Tilt (Mark Carrington 80), Anthony Barry (Paul Rutherford 73), Jordan White, Rob Evans, Ntumba Massanka, Leo Smith, Oliver Shenton, Oliver Marx.

Substitutes Not Used: Shwan Jalal, Iffy Allen, George Harry.

Yellow Cards: Tilt (23).

Referee: Joe Johnson (Liverpool).

Attendance: 1,009 (50 from Wrexham).