Barrow Raiders finally recorded that elusive first win of the season when they beat Swinton Lions 32-14 in the third round of the Challenge Cup.
They did, however, give Swinton 10 points start before they came back to dominate and the Lions didn’t score again until the last minute.
Swinton scored as early as the third minute when they worked the ball wide and Rhodri Lloys dived over in the corner for an unconverted try.
Their second try arrived on 12 minutes after Jarrod Sammut had lost the ball on Barrow’s 40 after making a promising break. Swinton countered well and eventually Lloyd got in for his second try which was converted by Dan Abram.
With a 10-0 deficit Barrow cleared their heads and by half-time had established a narrow 14-10 advantage.
From their first real spell of sustained pressure Danny Langtree charged through on 21 minutes to score and Ryan Shaw converted.
Four minutes later some slick handling by the Raiders put Shaw in at the corner and a superb touchline conversion from Shaw put the Raiders ahead.
Almost on the hooter Barrow opted to take two points from a penalty by Shaw after the ball was ripped out of Ellis Gillam’s hands.
It took only four minutes of the second half for Barrow to increase their lead. Ryan Johnston had two defenders on him but still managed to force himself over under the sticks and Shaw converted.
Swinton fell further behind on 48 minutes and Barrow looked to have the game in safe keeping. More good handling by Barrow saw Langtree break before feeding Ben Evans to score. Shaw’s conversion made it 26-10.
It stayed that way until eight minutes from the end when Luke Broadbent was able to spin out of a tackle and make the line. Shaw converted.
There was some late consolation for Swinton when second-row forward Kenny Baker went over for an unconverted try in the last minute.
