The former Runcorn forward was liberated as Jim Vince experimented with a different system, and he made the most of his new-found freedom to wreak havoc in the visitors' defence.

It took him only seven minutes to get his name on the scoresheet.

Carl Frost broke clear down the right before teeing up Whalley, who drifted past two defenders before drilling home a precise right-foot finish.

The pair combined again minutes later, only for Barrow keeper Jamie Speare to deny Whalley.

There was a moment of face after quarter of an hour when Speare drilled a clearance against Mike Moseley before saving the rebound with his hand outside the box.

Alex Brown floated the resulting free kick just over.

But that was a sign of things to come as from another free kick on 27 minutes Brown speared a right-foot drive into the top corner from 25 yards after Frost's lay off.

Whalley nearly doubled his tally when he dribbled around Speare, only to squeeze his shot the wrong side of the upright from a tight angle.

Barrow could not cope with Albion's fluid attacking play, with Brown involved in everything, and they fell further behind four minutes before the break.

This time Mark Jones supplied Moseley, and he made no mistake from just inside the penalty area.

The second period was a fragmented follow up to the first as both sides made a flurry of changes.

Whalley again came closest to scoring when he forced Speare into a smart save at his near post just after half time.

Barrow sub keeper Ben Morsby also had to deny Jones as Witton finished with a flourish.

STAR MAN: Sean Whalley - Given a free role to roam by Jim Vince, Whalley's direct dribbling and acceleration were too much for Barrow's porous rearguard, forcing them to resort to cynical fouls in a bid to stop him.

Even that had limited success and the striker was a constant threat.

WITTON: Worsnop, Brownhill (Smith 53), Hockenhull (Alistair Brown 66), Pritchard, Barras, Spearritt (Furnival 59), Alex Brown (Trainer 60), Jones, Moseley, Frost (Haughton 64) and Whalley (Gaghan 63).

BARROW manager Phil Wilson has berated his players for their poor showing at Witton on Saturday.

The Bluebirds went down 3-0 to the Albion, with all the goals coming before the break.

Wilson said: "At half time I had a right go at them because they didn't come out of the blocks at all."

A change in personnel for the second period made little difference.

Wilson added: "It didn't work out, we were very poor."