Barrow 1 Rotherham United 2: Grabban leaves it late as Rotherham avoid another giant-killing

A good atmosphere had been promised and the home camp suggested in the midweek build-up that home fans would make it an intimidating arena.

Well, the Barrow backing was certainly vocal as the preliminaries unfolded and the expectations of an FA Cup upset swirled up into the Cumbrian air.

Millers manager Andy Scott had warned his squad what to expect and both he and assistant boss Darren Patterson certainly knew what to anticipate from bitter experience – and bitter it was with both having suffered FA Cup exits here with Brentford and Oxford United respectively.

The crowd was tight to the pitch and baying for a league scalp against a club who have gone out to sides from the Blue Square Bet Premier in the past two seasons and three times in the last four.

Barrow started the better, forcing four corners fairly quickly and Rotherham had some scrambling to do from two of them to get the ball away.

Jack Mackreth went past Jason Taylor and Rotherham were extremely grateful that Tom Newey had spotted the danger and he made a vital intervention inside the area.

Guy Branston sent a header wide of his own goal from a free kick and the corner led to Rotherham going behind in the 16th minute.

Conrad Logan failed to deal with the high ball and then when the ball was put back into the area his punch was a poor one and it fell towards Paul Rutherford who rolled his shot into the net with the goalkeeper scrambling on all fours.

They were extremely fortunate not to go two down a few minutes later. The lively Mackreth broke away down the right, played the ball across where Adam Boyes, who scored four in the last round, took a touch and then looked sure to score only to strike the bar with his shot from around eight yards.

Rotherham almost made the most of this let off when Grabban centred from the right but Alex Revell put his header wide of the near post.

In stoppage time Chris Holroyd set up Revell whose 25 yarder on the run was brilliantly touched over by goalkeeper Danny Hurst.

At this stage Rotherham could have no complaints because Barrow were the better side and were playing the better football.

Manager Scott had to do something and he made a double substitution sending on Danny Schofield and Brett Williams for Luke Foster and Holroyd.

The changes seemed to have an immediate impact as Rotherham improved as a force going forward. Gareth Evans came in from the left, shot hard and low towards the far corner and the home goalkeeper just managed to turn the ball behind with Grabban rushing in.

Barrow replied and Louis Almond was set up with a fine chance but he shot straight at Logan from 16 yards.

Rotherham needed to start applying some pressure if they were not to suffer a third successive FA Cup exit to a side from the Blue Square Bet Premier.

When Danny Harrison was fouled just outside the area the home crowd went silent with anxiety only for Evans to strike the free kick into the four-man wall.

With nine minutes left Rotherham snatched an equaliser when a corner was cleared, Dale Tonge put the ball back over the defence and Grabban got free on the right to fire home superbly.

With five minutes left Rotherham dramatically went in front when Grabban stepped up again, this time striking a penalty high into the net after an Evans centre struck Paul Smith’s arm.

It was a fantastic comeback for the Millers as they hung on for the dramatic victory to book their place in round two and a trip to Shrewsbury.

Barrow: Hurst, M Pearson (Nicholas 87), Bolland, Smith, Skelton, Mackreth, Baker, Owen, Rutherford, Almond (Cook 78), Boyes. Unused substitutes: S Pearson, Ferrell, Sheridan, Lomax.

Rotherham: Logan, Tonge, Branston, Foster (Schofield 59), Newey, Evans, Taylor, Harrison, Holroyd (Williams 60), Revell, Grabban. Unused substitutes: Warrington, Marshall, Banks, Mullins, Pringle.

Referee: James Adcock (Nottinghamshire).

Man of the match: Lewis Grabban.