Barrow Raiders boosted their championship survival hopes with a fine 14-10 win at Bradford Bulls last night.
It was also a major blow to the home side’s effort to consolidate a place in the end of season play-offs.
Bradford weren’t helped by an error-strewn display and also a sending-off for Jorge Taufua for an alleged bite on Barrow skipper Jarrad Stack.
Barrow thought they had scored in the first minute after a knock-on by Bradford at the kick-off. The Raiders swung the ball wide on sixth tackle for Ryan Shaw to get over but the score was disallowed for a
Bradford’s sloppy start continued and they were punished for conceding two silly penalties which Ryan Shaw nailed for a 4-0 lead.
Shaw landed two further penalties to give Barrow an 8-0 half-time lead and the second on 32 minutes was awarded for the alleged bite by Taufua on Stack.
Shaw landed his fifth penalty ten minutes after the re-start and at 10-0 against 12 men Barrow really had the added incentive to see it through.
Bradford thought they had reduced the arrears but after Fenton Rogers barged his way over the try was disallowed for a knock on.
They did get four points back on 54 minutes when Jayden Myers made the line for his first senior try following a clever kick from Lee Gaskell.
But Barrow, tenacious and committed right across the team, scored their only try of the game on 57 minutes when the ball was shipped wide for Shaw to dive in for the try.
Bulls did reduce the arrears on 75 minutes with a try by Ben Blackmore, converted by Dec Patton to make it a four point game but Barrow gamely held-out for a vital, and deserved victory.
Afterwards coach Paul Crarey simply said: “We don’t get too excited when we win. We don’t get too down when we lose. We don’t panic here, we just work hard.”
