Late Batley Bulldogs try sees Barrow Raiders drop into relegation zone

A Joshua Hodson try two minutes from time converted by Luke Hooley denied Barrow a share of the spoils and sent the Raiders back into the bottom two of the Championship.

It was dog eat dog with neither team dominating, and a draw would have been a fair result.

Ryan Johnston attempted a long range drop kick three minutes from time with the scores locked at 6-6. However his effort failed, and a minute later the Bulldogs went upfield to snatch the win.

Barrow were bruised and battered with injuries taking their toll. Already under strength they lost Sam Brooks early in the game along with Nathan Mossop, while Josh Wood spent time in the dressing room with a knock to the head.

Ellis Gillam and Ben Evans were ruled out through injury, while skipper Jarrad Stack had work commitments. Forwards, Charlie Emslie and Danny Langtree were forced to play the full eighty minutes with Greg Worthington and Greg Burke only having a short spell off the field.

New recruits Harvey Makim (Wigan) and Tom Wilkinson (Ulverston) had their first run out in a Barrow shirt and both came out of the game with credit.

Batley were first to raid when a Johnston kick downfield saw Luke Hooley gather to race clear, but he lost the ball in the tackle.

The Bulldogs were denied points on the board shortly after when a long ball sent to Elliot Kear was adjudged to be forward as the winger crossed in the corner.

Barrow were having to defend with all their might after losing Brooks and Wood – Mossop came on for Wood but only lasted a few minutes before departing with a leg injury.

Luke Creswell came on and added some life in attack, but Barrow found no way through.

Brett Carter then pulled off a try saving tackle on James Meadow with a crunching tackle close to the home line as the first half ended pointless.

The second half was barely under way when Charlie Emslie made a charging run to the visitors’ line before being hauled down.

From the play the ball, Luke Broadbent prised open a gap to score out wide, Ryan Shaw failing to convert 4-0.

And when Broadbent put in a neat kick over the Batley line, Hooley had to drop out from under the posts.

Barrow worked hard to add further points with Wilkinson, Emslie and Makim to the fore, but Batley stood firm.

After putting on the pressure, Johnston tried to get Bullman in at the corner but his looping pass went forward. On 54 minutes the lead was in the hands of the Bulldogs when quick hands enabled Meadows to dot the ball down for Hooley to convert 4-6.

On the hour mark, Danny Langtree was taken high, which resulted in Shaw’s penalty goal bringing the scores level at 6-6.

Barrow had a rare and glorious opportunity to get over the line on 73 minutes. Jarrod Sammut hacked a ball through defenders,Wood gathered and with Carter and Shaw begging for the ball with the line wide open, chose to go himself and was tackled a foot from the line.

Then a stroke of luck which saw the visitors take the points. A drop goal attempt from Meadows was charged down only for a Barrow player to knock on and pressure paid off for Hodson to cross the white-wash, Hooley adding the goal, game set and match.

Barrow: Broadbent, Shaw, Carter, Toal, Bullman, Sammut, Johnston, Burke, Wood, Brooks, Langtree, Emslie, Worthington. Subs used: Mossop, Makim, Wilkinson, Creswell.

Mail man of the Match: Charlie Emslie.

Attendance 2,096.