Ryan Shaw was the toast of Barrow tonight after landing a last gasp touchline conversion to earn the Raiders a thrilling 32-30 win at Rochdale.
Declan Hulme had just squeezed over in the corner in the final few seconds to pull Barrow level and the resultant kick decided the game and whether the Raiders stayed top of the table.
The successful kick sees Barrow still ahead of Workington Town on percentage wins and both have one final game to go next Sunday.
It was a cracking game, which ebbed and flowed throughout, and stand-in kicker Shaw played his part with eight goals after opening the scoring with a third minute penalty.
A Dan Nixon try on 12 minutes gave Hornets the lead before Shaw levelled with his second penalty six minutes later. That penalty had followed a red card for Rochdale’s Joe Taira, guilty of a dangerous high tackle.
It was to Rochdale’s credit that they played for three quarters of the game with 12 men and were only denied victory by a last minute converted try.
By half time they were even 18-16 ahead with tries from Ben Moores and Fuifui Moimoi plus three goals from Jordan Syme (2) and Josh Jordan-Roberts.
Barrow had scored first-half tries from Tee Ritson and Luke Cresswell, converted by Shaw.
In a topsy turvy second-half Rochdale added two tries from Callum Marriott, both converted by Syme but Barrow stayed with them with a try from Jake Carter and three goals from Shaw.
Then up popped Hulme with his late try and Shaw became the hero with a superb conversion.
