JUST 12 days on from the drama of Gareth O'Brien kicking a drop-goal in golden point extra-time to give Salford Red Devils victory in the Million Pound Game, a similarly frantic finish played out at Craven Park.

The stakes were perhaps not quite as high – no relegation or contracts on the line – when Furness Raiders hosted Wakefield College in their first College Rugby League home game, but the conclusion was equally thrilling.

Having been pegged back to 24-24 by an unconverted try, Furness were able to win the ball back from a short kick-off at the restart and then get into position for scrum-half Ryan Johnston to kick the game-winning one-pointer with the final act of the match.

It was thanks in no small part to the kicking of Johnston that the Raiders were able to be in that position too as the Dalton amateur nailed all four of his conversion attempts, while Wakefield failed to add the extras on any of their six tries.

“Ryan was on fire with his goal-kicking, so he pulled us out of it there,” said Furness head coach Darren Carter. “That's how it goes sometimes; on another day, we probably could have won by a few more. Overall, it was a really outstanding win for us.

“It was dramatic, to say the least. I think that drop-goal was the right result, I think we just edged the game, but they were a good side as well and that's what it's about. It's about playing against teams where you go out of your comfort zone a bit and you don't know who is going to win.

“It's no good running away with games, it's much better when you have proper competition and you play against good teams, and they were a really good side. They're well-coached, a good group of lads and they are the feeder team for the full Wakefield academy, so we were really pleased.”

Johnston, Matty Brown, Tyler Batty and Danny Wright all grabbed tries for the Raiders, while forward duo Ethan Furness and Scott Beattie drew praise from Carter for their displays as well.

It was the second week in a row they had to overcome a slow start as well, having done likewise in the 29-16 victory at Midlands Hurricanes, and although Carter is keen to see that trait eradicated, he was is pleased to see his squad continuing to make good progress.

“It's not always about winning and losing, and if we'd have drawn or lost, it wouldn't have been the end of the world,” said Carter.

“We'd have still learnt and we'd have still gone forward from this, but the fact you get the win makes it a bit more rewarding. It's better for the kids, they're in the changing room buzzing and it's one of those that shows you should never give up.

“We were behind the posts with one minute left on the clock and I was saying to the lads 'we can still get this, if we kick off and get the ball back, we can drop a goal' and that's exactly what happened. The fact they never gave up, they got their just-rewards in the end.”

Carter's young charges drew plenty of praise from their vanquished opponents too, and it would not be surprising if word spreads and several of them start attracting interest from further afield.

“I was speaking to their coach and he was asking all about where the lads were from. He was really impressed with the standard that we've got,” said Carter.

“He was really happy and said 'to be fair, it was definitely the right result and you've got some really talented players there, and I'm surprised they haven't been snapped up' and things like that.

“We don't mind that - we don't mind being a little bit out of the way here, we'll just nurture our own and bring them through for Barrow.”