Jason Walker's penalty helped Barrow claim a point against Darlington, who missed a spot kick of their own.
That miss occurred shortly before half-time when Alan Martin saved Paul Arnison's effort after Phil Bolland had fouled Richard Offiong inside the box.
The visitors did take the lead after the break when Paul Terry slotted in Michael Smith's cross.
Walker then equalised after Aaron Brown had fouled Simon Wiles before Barrow's Paul Jones saw red for violent conduct.
Barrow joint manager Dave Bayliss told BBC Radio Cumbria: "Regarding the sending-off, Jones hasn't elbowed him, the lad has got hold of him and Paul has pushed him away but they've seen something else.
"The penalty decisions, especially our one, I don't think it was a penalty to be honest, but that has gone in favour of us.
"A number of the decisions were baffling, and you don't normally get two sets of benches complaining about the officials, I thought the referee was totally out of his depth."
Darlington boss Mark Coopertold BBC Radio Tees: "I thought we played really well and deserved to win, and but for a crazy couple of decisions, we would have done.
"It was never a penalty, he never touched him, I was right behind it and he was more than a foot away.
"The referee got a lot of stick from the Barrow fans and until that I thought he was refereeing the game pretty well, but he's got the main two decisions in the game wrong for me, one the penalty, and Paul Terry's shot - the boys were convinced it was half a foot over the line.
"I'll look at the positives, I'm deeply frustrated but I can only give the players praise, and the fans will go away thinking that it was a good performance from us."
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