THE Rugby Football League (RFL) have admitted that the match official Ryan Cox made a mistake to force Barrow to play almost the whole of the second half with 12 men at Halifax last Sunday.

A skirmish erupted following Barrow disputing a try in the opening minutes of the second half which resulted in Brett Carter being sin-binned and Delaine Gittens-Bedward being sent off.

Gittens-Bedward who was off the field when the skirmish took place came onto the field of play to get involved and was shown a red card by Mr Cox.

Barrow were told to pull off one of the players which was Jamie Pye.

The following 10 minutes Barrow were down to 11 men with Carter returning on 54 minutes.

Barrow protested that they should be back to 13 men as Gittens-Bedward was dismissed from the bench, but it fell on deaf ears.

RFL spokesman John Davidson said: “The Referee made a mistake in the clubs defeat at Halifax, but we will not overturn the result.

“They should have been allowed 13 men back on the field but were not.

“While the Governing body has sympathy for the Raiders and the Match officials department admitted the error made the result stands.”