THERE was no fairy tale start for Barrow Raiders Ladies as they began life in Women’s Super League with a defeat.

Raiders went down 18-4 away to Wigan Warriors Women at the DW Stadium in their season opener.

After the game, Raiders head coach Amanda Wilkinson told the club’s official Facebook page that the hosts were more clinical than her side.

She said: “I think it was a fair result. I think they were the better team on the day. They performed for the 80 minutes.

“They managed to execute or take chances and turn them into points where we didn’t.

“It was ours to win in the first half. I think we could have probably scored three tries in that first half. We were strong and dominant, but we didn’t capitalise on it.

“And that killed us in the second half.”

Despite the defeat, Wilkinson felt a great sense of pride in how her team battled in the face of adversity.

She added: “I’m not going to lie we were struggling with injuries (during the game).

“We had a couple of head knocks, so we had just under 20 minutes on the clock and had no substitutions left.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game, but to come away 18-4 with the last 20 minutes as it was with my halfs playing prop positions, everyone was out of sync, but the girls managed to pull it together and still managed to get some shape and structure, and managed to get on the scoreboard.

“Did we perform as I would have liked? No. But I think we will take from this a lot of character-building stuff and come away better people, and we’ll take that into the season with us.”