AND so, it is mission accomplished for Barrow Raiders – at least as far as the Super Eights are concerned.

Having made absolutely certain of second place in Kingstone Press League One with yesterday's 32-18 victory over Keighley Cougars – thus ensuring the play-off final, if they get there, will be on home turf – attention now switches to the fight for the second promotion spot.

Standing in Barrow's way of a place in the aforementioned final are Newcastle Thunder, Their 26-24 win at York City Knights, coupled with other results going their way, saw them snatch the one remaining spot in yesterday's final round of Super Eights matches.

Should the Raiders successfully navigate that obstacle, they will then face either York or fellow Cumbrians Whitehaven at Craven Park on October 1 for a place in the Championship next year. Not that head coach Paul Crarey will be allowing his squad to think beyond this Sunday though.

Of course, had yesterday's encounter gone differently then it could well have been Keighley making the trip back up through the Yorkshire Dales to Barrow in the semi-finals for the fifth time this year – and the sixth meeting in total between the sides.

However, the story for Craig Lingard's men was the same as it had been in each of the four previous friendly, league and cup meetings between the teams this year, with Barrow emerging triumphant and maintaining their impressive unbeaten home record in 2017.

It meant there would be no last hurrah for retiring Cougars pair James Feather and Neil Cherryholme, although the latter did bring some cheer for the visitors with his first try since 2015 on what turned out to be the prop's final appearance for the club.

As far as the hosts were concerned though, the highlight was the superb solo try from Shane Toal when the club's young player of the year picked up the ball and sliced through the Keighley defence from over 65 metres out to score under the posts in the first half.

It proved a crucial score for Barrow as it came at a time when they held a slender 8-6 lead and just four minutes before half time too, with there having been little to choose between either side up to that point.

The Raiders could hardly have got of to a better start though and were ahead after just two minutes when Nathan Mossop dashed over with a trademark scoot from dummy-half following Lewis Charnock – who kicked the conversion – being tackled just short.

It then needed prop Joe Bullock to chase down and deny Keighley winger Andy Gabriel what looked a nailed-on try when he countered after picking up a loose ball, but Cherryholme's try – converted by Matty Beharrell – following two consecutive drop-outs saw them back on level terms after 11 minutes.

Ill-discipline would see the Cougars unable to make the most of some of the pressure they were able to apply though and that allowed scrum-half Charnock to slot over a kick on 24 minutes and although he missed another six minutes later, Barrow did surge further ahead before half-time thanks to Toal's try.

Again, Barrow's scrambling defence came to the fore early in the second half when Ryan Fieldhous bundled Adam Ryder into touch with the try-line beckoning and they duly went up the other end to increase their lead with a try from Tom Walker, converted by Jamie Dallimore.

Keighley hit back from the restart, being given the benefit of the doubt by the officials when a short kick-off appeared to not make the full 10 metres and advancing up field for Davey Dixon to grab a converted score after a kick from Beharrell was batted back down to him.

Two converted tries in eight minutes for Barrow snuffed out any hopes Keighley had of a comeback though. First, Joe Bullock burrowed his way over from close range and then Charnock's excellent support play saw him snaffle an offload from outstanding skipper Ollie Wilkes to race away for the score.

There was still time for Gabriel to score for the Cougars late on, but it was only a consolation. The Raiders will now assess the injuries which forced Toal and Mossop off in the second half, and prepare for the winner-takes-all play-off showdown.

Barrow Raiders: Ryan Fieldhouse; Brett Carter, Tom Loxam, Declan Hulme, Shane Toal; Jamie Dallimore, Lewis Charnock; Joe Bullock, Nathan Mossop, Ollie Wilkes, Bradd Crellin, Danny Morrow, Martin Aspinwall. Interchange: Dan Toal, Karl Ashall, Tom Walker, James Duerden.

Keighley Cougars: Ritchie Hawkyard; Davey Dixon, Hamish Barnes, Adam Ryder, Andy Gabriel; Liam Darville, Matty Beharrell; Neil Cherryholme, James Feather, Matthew Bailey, Ben Sagar, Josh Tonks, Michael Emmett. Interchange: Harry Aaronson, Scott Law, Brendon Rawlins, Brad Nicholson.

Referee: Nick Bennett.