Barrow Raiders earned their second pre-season win with an impressive 34-22 home score over Newcastle Thunder.
The visitors now have a full-time squad, and they brought all 25 players to south Cumbria, and were expected to have too much fitness for their hosts.
But after establishing a 22-12 lead early in the second half they never scored another point and it was Barrow who finished the stronger.
Paul Crarey’s team had actually started best and took the lead on 13 minutes when Ellis Gillam was first to reach a grubber and make the touchdown. Ryan Shaw converted.
But Newcastle were soon on terms for on 18 minutes Adam Hallas crashed over and Jake Shorrocks kicked the goal.
Two minutes later Barrow were breached again. This time it was Craig Mullen who finished off after a great break from Alex Foster.
It was a bad spell for Barrow and just when it seemed they had weathered the storm Thunder scored again. They worked the ball wide for Isaac Nokes to dive in for an unconverted try.
There was still time for a Barrow response before the break and it was Hakim Miloudi who danced round the Newcastle defence for a try which Shaw converted.
Barrow suffered a set-back six minutes into the second half when Jack Johnson got away and ran virtually the length of the field for a try, converted by Shorrocks.
But that was it from Newcastle as Barrow set-about changing the course of the game.
After 50 minutes clever play by Danny Langtree allowed him to outwit the last defenders for a well-taken with Shaw adding the extras.
On 55 minutes Barrow were back in front when Shaw was unmarked on the wing and had a simple touchdown which he converted.
Four minutes later it was Shaw again, racing onto a kick through from Miloudi. This time Shaw registered his only failure with the boot.
Newcastle found it impossible to get through a solid Barrow defence and there was only further score. Jake Carter made a fine break on 71 minutes and Ryan Johnston was with him to take the pass and go in under the posts for Shaw to convert.
