PAUL Crarey was left to rue a number of decisions both in and out of his team's control as Barrow Raiders had to settle for a share of the spoils in a 24-24 draw away to Doncaster in Kingstone Press League One.

It seemed as if the Raiders were on course for victory after being 12 points clear at one point during the second half, only for tiredness to start taking its toll on the team as injuries started to mount.

That tiredness led to one or two game management issues which frustrated Crarey and while he conceded a draw was a fair outcome, he was also annoyed with the decision of the officials not to award a conversion from Lewis Charnock in the first half which both him and his players felt had gone over after hitting the posts.

“I thought we were great in the first half,” said Crarey. “The wind howled, we were downwind in the first half and we knew we had to put some points on the board, and we did that.

“In the second, half we just ran out of bodies and there was hardly anyone left on the bench for most of the second half.

“I thought Lewis Charnock's kick was over; it hit the post and it definitely went over. The players contested it at the time and it wasn't given, but we're going to look at it on the tape and I think it was over. I take my hat off to my players, they didn't give up but a couple of things cost us.

“It's always difficult to play here and looking at the result, probably a point each is a fair reflection of how the two halves went.”

The result means Doncaster are only the second team in League One this season, along with unbeaten leaders Toronto Wolfpack, to take any points off the Raiders so far.

However, Crarey is confident his side will have learnt some important lessons from this match ahead of the Super Eights portion of the campaign.

“This is what the Super Eights are going to be like,” said Crarey. “You have got to be clinical in everything. Luckily, we salvaged a point after being in control of the game, but the elements here – you could barely stand up in the wind and it was always going to be a tale of two halves.

“It's the amount of possession we gave away in the second half and perhaps not managing the game as well as we should. It's about doing that and learning from it. Probably, we're happy to get the draw.”

The draw also means Barrow slip behind Cumbrian rivals Whitehaven, who moved up to second – albeit only a point ahead of Crarey's men – following a 62-6 victory at home to University of Gloucestershire All Golds.

However, Crarey is not overly concerned by that, particularly with the Raiders still having to face Carl Forster's team in the final round of regular season matches.

“When we go to the Super Eights, that's when the league is really going to start taking shape,” said Crarey. “The fixtures are set up for us to have a tough run, Whitehaven and Workington have got a lot of the top sides at home, but we've got to go to Whitehaven and they don't have to come to us.

“We moaned about the fixtures at the start, and how we had to go to Keighley and Newcastle, but we came through them. We've got to go to Whitehaven and we went to York in the Challenge Cup, but we've just got to deal with it.

“We've got to get on with it because in the Eights, we might have to come back here again and we know what it's like.”