Two more goals from Dom Telford earned him a place in the Newport County record books and secured another three points for James Rowberry’s promotion hopefuls.
Telford’s first-half brace was enough to see off struggling Barrow at Rodney Parade and earn third-placed County a fourth successive victory.
It also meant that the striker became the first County player to score 20 Football League goals in a single season since club legend John Aldridge in 1983-1984.
It took Telford just 94 seconds to break the deadlock as the hapless Barrow defence failed to deal with a long throw from Cameron Norman and allowed the 5ft 5in hotshot to nod in the loose ball.
And he doubled the Exiles’ advantage after 12 minutes after Finn Azaz won the ball in midfield and drove forward before feeding Telford, who cut inside and fired a left-foot rocket into the top corner.
Rowberry’s men were in control of the match and Telford almost completed his hat-trick in the 18th minute only to be denied by Barrow goalkeeper Paul Farman.
But they failed to build on an electric start and grew increasingly sloppy as the half wore on, almost allowing a poor Barrow side a way back into the contest.
The lively Remeao Hutton fired wide from distance midway through the first half and goalkeeper Nick Townsend had to be alert to keep out a point-blank header from former County striker Aaron Amadi-Holloway.
Telford dragged another chance wide on his right foot after being teed up by Oli Cooper a minute before the break, but at 2-0, County knew that the game wasn’t quite won.
They had to soak up plenty of pressure from the visitors at the start of the second half and Barrow were handed a lifeline in the 63rd minute when Anthony Glennon’s cross from the left was diverted into his own net by County captain Mickey Demetriou.
Courtney Baker-Richardson had earlier had a chance to seal the win when he was released by Telford, only to be denied by the legs of Farman, and Telford headed just off target after 70 minutes.
At 2-1 it was a nervy finish for the home fans and they were holding their breath when Ollie Banks flashed a header inches wide with four minutes left on the clock.
But the Exiles held on to secure a much-needed victory ahead of next week’s trip to runaway leaders Forest Green Rovers.
Newport County: Townsend; Norman, Clarke, Demetriou, Haynes; Bennett; Cain (Willmott, 65), Azaz, Cooper; Telford (Dolan, 89), Baker-Richardson (Street, 76)
Substitutes not used: Day, Lewis, Waite, Collins
Barrow : Farman; Hutton, Jones, Platt (Brown, 46), Brough, Glennon; Banks, White (Harris, 87), Beadling; Amadi-Holloway, James
Substitutes not used: Ntlhe, Devitt, Williams, Wakeling
Referee: Craig Hicks (Surrey)
Attendance: 4,080
