Last updated at 15:10, Monday, 25 June 2012

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CO-OPERATIVE CHAMPIONSHIP ONE RESULT

BARROW RAIDERS 40 NORTH WALES CRUSADERS 24

IF there has been one lesson learnt this season from watching Barrow Raiders, it’s this – never play Monopoly with Darren Holt.

The Craven Park coach has a seemingly endless supply of ‘Get Out Of Jail Free’ cards in his hand and he put down another one yesterday.

Having seen two 12-point leads clawed back, they found themselves locked at24-24 with Crusaders as the match ticked past the hour-mark.

They needed something to happen fast, as the momentum was with the visitors and Barrow were in danger of losing their 100 per cent home record and top spot in Championship One with it.

It was against the odds – and yet so typical of their entire season – that they found a way to run in three tries in 13 minutes to seal the three points and enable an anxious crowd to breathe a huge sigh of relief.

The first hint of success came as the ball was spread right to lift through fast hands and came to half-back Liam Campbell.

The number seven had already scored once in the first half, but in the second had seen two similar chances to this one go begging as he went down in the tackle near the line.

Would he go again, or would he choose to use the supporting players outside him as the North Wales defence closed in? It was a key decision and this time Campbell chose correctly, turning down the chance to take his personal tally for the season to 18 and instead offloading to skipper Liam Harrison, who had little to do but plonk the ball down.

Having seen Crusaders come back many times already – and the rare sight of Ryan Shaw missing only a second conversion in 30 attempts – the game was still not done and a quick follow-up was needed.

Once more, Campbell found himself with the ball after quick hands had moved play from wide on the right to the left of the posts.

Once more, he ran across the defence at an angle and, once more, he had support outside in the shape of his captain.

This time, it looked like a better chance for Campbell to run in himself, but he took no chances and fed Harrison for his hat-trick try.

It was turning into another runaway finish from Barrow, but Crusaders must have seen the videos of it happening to other sides and they refused to play their part.

A Campbell grubber should have had Shaw or Mike Backhouse in with seven minutes to go, but Toby Adamson scrambled back superbly to pluck it from the air before it could reach the grasps of the Raiders duo.

North Wales then went on the attack themselves and looked like they might unlock the Raiders defence once more, only for the ball to be spilled on halfway and Scott Kaighan to pick up and run in down the right flank for 40-24 – game, set and match. It was such errors on the part of the visitors which had cost them in the early going.

Crusaders had each of the first four sets, forcing a penalty and three drop-outs, but they could not find a way through when it counted.

Instead they eventually allowed Barrow possession and saw them push to their own line. They seemed to have held out themselves, only for a knock-on by Adam Clay five yards in front of his posts to prove costly, with Harrison picking up and playing to the whistle as he went in to the side of the posts for a 6-0 lead.

North Wales struck back immediately, the huge figure of Jono Smith – an old-fashioned amateur prop, playing the new game with speed an alacrity at loose forward – sending Andy Gorski free on halfway to level matters.

They kept pushing and were on the brink of taking the lead when Adamson put a woeful pass at the feet of his half-back Jamie Durbin. He could not take it, but five metres from the whitewash, Andy Ballard could, picking up and racing 95 metres to score and restore the lead.

The advantage was extended as Ryan Duffy fed Campbell for his try – a carbon copy of the runs which he produced to supply Harrison twice later in the afternoon. Raiders could and should have had the momentum in their favour now, but instead Crusaders scored the final try of the half as Smith used his immense bulk to burrow over from dummy half on the line and make it a six-point game.

The lead was 12 within a couple of minutes of the second half as Jack Pedley and Campbell produced a beguiling move and sent Dan Toal in, but Crusaders now turned it on again.

They cut the lead as Smith slipped a pass to Durbin and he sent Gorski in for his second try and wiped it out entirely when Ruairi McGoff knocked-on an Andy Bracek offload 20 metres from his line and Leon Brennan went down the blind-side to score from the scrum.

It was 24-24, there were 20 minutes to go and Crusaders were the only team in it.

But Holt had the deck rigged, played his ‘Get Out Of Jail Free’ card and the points went to the home side – as they always seem to at the moment.

First published at 14:29, Sunday, 24 June 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk