IF Worcester City take nothing else from their final match of a difficult season, at least they may have been inspired by Barrow's success.

Matt Henney's 17th-minute strike confirmed the Cumbrians' place in the Blue Square North play-offs on the back of a remarkable run that has seen them go 17 games unbeaten.

The Bluebirds were flirting with relegation when Darren Sheridan and Dave Bayliss took over from Phil Wilson but have recorded 13 victories since January 26 to defy the odds and give themselves a shot at promotion.

Yet, watching Barrow celebrate their triumph in front of a bumper 2,468 crowd at Holker Street is not how City would have preferred to bring the curtain down on another fruitless campaign.

Of course, it would have been nice to have spoiled the party and denied the hosts a top-five finish but what Worcester wouldn't have given to have been in their opponents' position come the final whistle.

What Barrow have achieved is what City crave and it is up to manager Richard Dryden to build a squad capable of mounting a challenge to make that a reality next season.

Worcester, though, still wanted to finish the current campaign with three points but, despite a decent display in patches, left the Lake District for the second time in a week with nothing to show for their efforts.

Striker Mark Danks, still uncertain whether he has a future at City beyond the summer, passed a late fitness test on his knee and lined up alongside Rory May in place of the suspended Craig Wilding, while Troy Wood dropped to the bench in the wake of the 1-0 defeat at Workington.

It may have been late April but the match was played in atrocious conditions with driving wind and rain making for a tricky contest.

Barrow were on top early on and were almost gifted a goal when Ryan Clarke, presumably waiting for a call from keeper Chris Sanna, took it upon himself to intervene and headed Jason Walker's cross inches wide of his own goal.

City came more into the fixture but Barrow's threat down the right paid off with the opening goal on 17 minutes.

Nick Rogan's pass found its way through to the dangerous Henney just inside the penalty area and the winger fired a crisp effort across Sanna into the bottom corner.

Henney, despite being shackled well by the returning Shabir Khan, continued to be a force on the right flank and it was his driven cross that almost brought about a second goal on 26 minutes.

He fired the ball across goal but Rogan lost his footing trying to make a connection and skipper Paul Jones drilled the rebound wide.

It was a let-off for Worcester but Dryden's side weathered the storm and started to enjoy their own spell of pressure.

Just two minutes later, captain Chris Smith helped the ball on into the box and Danks' shot from point-blank range was beaten out by keeper Tim Deasy.

However, seven minutes before the break, Barrow came within a lick of paint of scoring again when Chris Thompson cut into the penalty area before firing against the inside of Sanna's far post.

City came back up the other end and Nick Colley's well-directed cross from the right was met by the towering figure of May but keeper Deasy was equal to his goalbound header two minutes before half-time.

Barrow finished the half in the ascendancy as Sanna did well to smother Henney's close-range effort at the winger's feet.

The second-half was more even, with the elements making the surface increasingly slippery.

Sheridan and Bayliss' side also became more edgy as the game wore on as Paul Tait, on for Jason Walker, sent a drive harmlessly wide.

City kept plugging away but, once again, had little to show for their efforts in front of goal.

Indeed, the closest they came to spoiling the Barrow party in the second-half was through Shabir's speculative 40-yard drive, which sailed a foot over Deasy's crossbar.

Barrow could sense they had done enough and, after Sanna had held Boyd's 35-yard free-kick and substitute Paul Brown's late drive, that proved to be the case.