Barrow left it late but squeezed home 18-16 at home to Keighley Cougars in the Betfred Championship.
A remarkable try from Jarrod Sammut nine minutes from the end put Barrow level and Ryan Shaw’s touchline conversion nosed them into the lead which they held until the end.
Sammut had booted a high towards the corner and there seemed to be plenty from both sides capable of grabbing possession when the Maltese international suddenly appeared, leapt in the air to take possession and dived over in the corner.
In anybody’s language it was a sensational try and the fine conversion by Shaw sealed the points.
From the start Barrow had dominated, making a really aggressive start and it was no surprise when they went in front on 10 minutes.
Good hands had initially caused Keighley problems before Anton Iaria spotted the gap and drove through it to score the opener which Shaw improved.
Great work by Danny Langtree five minutes later almost set-up a second try but a forward pass was ruled late in the move denied them the score.
It then became something of an arm wrestle as Keighley came back into the game and on 31 minutes they were level.
It had looked like forward pass but the referee saw nothing wrong and Josh Lynam’s touchdown counted, with Dane Chisholm levelling matters with the conversion.
Five minutes before the break Keighley got their noses in front. A break from Lloyd Roby was capitalised on by Alix Stephenson who crashed over for the try. The kick was missed but the Cougars led 10-6 at the change-round.
.Within 11 minutes of the re-start the Raiders had regained the lead. Moving the ball wide and then back inside there was enough room for Luke Broadbent to get over and Shaw converted for a 12-10 home lead.
But five minutes later the Cougars were back in front. Stephenson slalomed his way through the Barrow defence to touchdown and Chisholm added the extras.
The Raiders enjoyed a fair amount of pressure after that but it needed some Sammut magic to grab the win with his late try and Shaw’s excellent conversion.
