BARROW RAIDERS 24 DONCASTER 19
PETER WILSON, Northern Competitions Stadium, Sunday
BARROW came from behind to edge a nail-biter and climb into second place in the Championship table.
Doncaster held a half-time lead, thanks mainly to a couple of generous gifts offered by the home side and gratefully accepted by winger Edene Gebbie, but after the break they were restricted to the occasional fruitless visit into home territory.
It started so well for Doncaster when a home attack broke down, Gebbie snapped up a loose pass and won a 90-metre race with Raiders’ Andrew Bulman to score the opening try after just eight minutes.
It was a lead than lasted less than two minutes. Doncaster were penalised for a late challenge in front of their own posts and from the penalty Barrow worked the ball wide for Bulman to score in the corner.
To add to the early feeling that we might be in for a cricket score, Gebbie repeated his long-distance run when Brad Hey intercepted a pass, fed his winger and the rest came naturally as he raced down the wing to restore the visitors’ lead. Craig Hall took over the goalkicking duty and stretched the lead to 10-4.
Gebbie had an open door to complete a 15-minute hat-trick when he crossed the Barrow line, only to drop the ball as he moved to touch down.
Barrow made the most of the let-off and it was fans favourite Tee Ritson who showed the home fans what they have been missing since his move to Saints. Ryan Johnston kicked ahead, more in hope than ambition, and Ritson out-sprinted the chasing cover to score a try seemingly from nowhere.
But the Raiders had not finished with the gift-wrapping.
Handling blunders kept them penned in their own quarter and it came as a surprise to nobody when their next blunder offered Doncaster the chance to increase their lead. Centre Reece Lyne was the man who made the most of the chance to take the score to 14-8. And a Hall field-goal stretched the lead at the break to 15-8.
Barrow knew they had to score next to avoid an uphill struggle – and they did.
A cut-out pass from Johnston found Curtis Teare, who found the gap and crossed for a try – converted by Brad Walker – to bring the home side to within a point.
Then in the 51st minute Barrow scored the try that put them ahead. But it cost them the services of their main man, loose forward Ryan King.
It was King, the architect of many of the home side’s enterprising moves, who crashed over through a body of defenders for his try. But after talking the back-slapping for the four points, he had to be helped from the field with a leg injury.
The 66th minute try that brought Doncaster back to within a point was the reward for some enterprising play on the last tackle. The ball passed through several pairs of hands in various directions before it eventually found Lyne in the corner, but Hall couldn’t convert to give his side the lead.
The gap was one point again and that’s how it stayed until Teare went in for his match-clincher six minutes from the end.
GAMESTAR: Ryan King was forced off after 51 minutes but he had done more than enough to stake the claim.
GAMEBREAKER: Curtis Teare’s 74th-minute try was needed to settle matters.
MATCHFACTS
RAIDERS
1 Luke Cresswell
2 Andrew Bulman
3 Matt Costello
18 Curtis Teare
30 Tee Ritson
6 Brad Walker
7 Ryan Johnston
32 Ryan Brown
9 Josh Wood
31 Kavan Rothwell
11 Ellis Robson
24 Jarrad Stack
13 Ryan King
Subs (all used)
22 Alex Bishop
4 Luke Broadbent
16 Charlie Emslie
12 James Greenwood
Tries: Bulman (10), Ritson (23), Teare (43, 74), King (51)
Goals: B Walker 2/7
DONCASTER
1 Craig Hall
5 Luke Briscoe
4 Reece Lyne
3 Brad Hey
18 Edene Gebbie
28 Jack Charles
7 Connor Robinson
17 Josh Bowden
9 Greg Burns
10 Suaia Matagi
14 Jacob Jones
12 Alex Sutcliffe
13 Loui McConnell
Subs (all used)
15 Jordan Baldwinson
24 Watson Boas
23 Jason Tali
22 Andre Savelio
Tries: Gebbie (8, 13), Lyne (35, 66)
Goals: Robinson 0/1, Hall 1/3
Field-goals: Hall (39)
SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-4, 4-4, 4-10, 8-10, 8-14, 8-15; 14-15, 20-15, 20-19, 24-19
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Raiders: Ryan King; Doncaster: Jack Charles
Penalty count: 7-4
Half-time: 8-15
Referee: Kevin Moore
Attendance: 1,612
