Barrow Raiders lost their unbeaten record in the Betfred Championship when they lost 30-18 at home to Batley Bulldogs.
They had trailed 20-6 at the break, and although they had got it back to 18-26, were undone by a late interception try 11 minutes from time which wrapped-up the points for the visitors.
It was a disappointing end to Barrow’s unbeaten start to life back in the Championship, and perhaps had something to do with their Challenge Cup effort last week against Huddersfield.
A little kick through from Tom Gilmore provided the opportunity for Lucas Walshaw to dive and score the opener. Gilmore added the conversion.
It was feisty at times but Batley kept their cool on 20 minutes when Ben White found space to drive through the Barrow defence for the second try. Gilmore converted.
Four minutes later Batley capitalised on more slack defending when Luke Hooley bulldozed through several weak tackles to score and Gilmore added his third goal.
It got worse for Barrow on 29 minutes when Hakim Milousi was shown a red card and soon afterwards Gilmore put over a penalty.
There was some hope for Barrow right on half-time when a fine kick through from new Salford loanee Morgan Escare ended with Ryan Shaw touching down. Jarrod Sammut converted.
Barrow needed to score first after the break but it was Batley who got in on 47 minutes through Kieran Buchanan.
At 24-6 it really was uphill for the Cumbrians but on 65 minutes they reduced the arrears when Danny Morrow barged through several defenders to get the ball down. Sammut converted.
Five minutes later Escare danced through for a well-taken try, converted by Sammut and the Raiders could just have been on for a full recovery.
But those hopes were extinguished on 76 minutes when former Workington Town winger Perry Whiteley intercepted on his own 10 metre line and went the length of the field to score.
