Barrow Raiders left themselves with too much to do as they crashed out of the Challenge Cup at Halifax
It finished 24-18 to the Panthers but 10 minutes from the end the Raiders were looking well out of contention at 20-6.
The south Cumbrians had trailed 14-0 at the break as Halifax had dominated the first half keen to make amends for last week’s narrow Championship defeat at Barrow.
The Panthers had started quickly and went in front after only three minutes when James Saltonstall dived over in the corner for the opening try.
A second unconverted try arrived on eight minutes as a kick through the Barrow defence produced a foot race which was won by the Panthers’ Jake Maixen for the touchdown.
Barrow had been under the pump but nearly got in from their first sustained attack on 18 minutes when skipper Jarrad Stack was held up on the line.
They continued to force the pace and when Andrew Bulman palmed back a kick for the corner from Jarrod Sammut there was just nobody there to take advantage.
Then it was Barrow’s turn again for some serious defending as the hosts piled on the pressure and it didn’t help when Barrow lost Josh Wood to the sin bin after 28 minutes.
Within a minute of his exit Halifax scored again and it was ex-Whitehaven half-back Louis Jouffret who spotted a gap to get over and this time Joe Keyes added the extras.
Barrow made a very strong start to the second-half and a great tackle by Jake Carter dislodged the ball from the Halifax player. From there the Raiders built position and Danny Langtree went in for their first try which Sammut converted.
They enjoyed a good spell of pressure after that and went close to getting in again but somehow Halifax survived and on the hour increased their lead. Eribe Doro was under a high ball and was able to crash over the line with Keyes tacking on the conversion.
Ten minutes from time it looked all over when Saltonstall crashed over in the corner for his second try in the corner.
But a spirited finish by Barrow saw Rio Corkill (73) burrow over from a play-the-ball and then Langtree (78) powered over for his second with Sammut converting.
Unfortunately, with the bit between their teeth, they just ran out of time.
