BARROW Raiders held off a second-half fightback from Newcastle Thunder to seal a 30-28 victory in Saturday evening's Kingstone Press League One Super Eights clash at Kingston Park.

Two tries from centre pairing Eze Harper and Declan Hulme had helped the Raiders establish a 20-point lead at half-time following a ruthless showing in the first 40 minutes.

But the Thunder, who had suffered three straight defeats heading into this match, produced a stirring fightback when play resumed and could well have snatched a share of the spoils had Benn Hardcastle been able to land a difficult conversion from out wide – the only one of five kicks he missed.

The game was barely three minutes old when Barrow took the lead. Having forced a drop-out from their first possession, the visitors earned a repeat set which saw Dallimore send Harper darting through the defence from nearly 30 metres out for a try which Lewis Charnock converted.

Then seven minutes later, Thunder full-back Lewis Young fumbled a grubber kick from stand-off Dallimore which was chased down by the Barrow centre to grab his and his team's second of the match, with Charnock again adding the extras.

Newcastle were not without their opportunities though, yet could not breach the Raiders defence despite forcing two drop-outs in a row and Ryan Fieldhouse then knocking on close to his own line, with each attack successfully repelled.

Fieldhouse then more than atoned for his error at the other end midway through the first half, chasing down an ambitious Dallimore kick through a huge gap in the defence to score under the posts and give Charnock a simple conversion.

Then it was Shane Toal and Hulme who combined for two unconverted tries, although it was the winger setting up the centre – first flicking back inside for Hulme when being tackled into touch and then setting him up for his 17th try of the season after being sent racing down the wing by Fieldhouse.

Thunder did eventually get on the scoresheet in the final minute of the half when the Barrow defence failed to deal with a kick from scrum-half Hardcastle, with the scrum-half applying the crucial touch for the try and then converting his own effort.

The Raiders began the second half where they left off in the first and the ball was moved quickly through the hands of Dallimore and Harper to send Brett Carter over in the corner for an unconverted score on 48 minutes.

But Newcastle started to claw their way back into the match and their pressure eventually paid of on 61 minutes when, after five straight sets in Barrow's 20 metres following a string of penalties and a knock-on, Matty Barron powered through for a converted score.

Barrow were not helped by losing Andrew Dawson, Ollie Wilkes and Dan Toal to injuries, while Tom Walker played the closing stages with a hamstring injury. Meanwhile, Thunder sensed blood and were in again on 71 minutes when full-back Young darted through to score.

Brown's try nine minutes from time, which went unconverted, reduced the deficit to eight points and then a fortutious bounce off a defender's leg allowed Hardcastle to scoop up his own kick and dot down for his second.

However, Barrow managed to get the ball back and although they could not find a score to settle any jangling nerves, they had done enough to take the points and all but confirm their play-off place.

Newcastle Thunder: Lewis Young; Zach Clark, Joe Brown, Derrell Olpherts, Ali Blair; Tom Shaw, Ben Hardcastle; Vincent Rennie, Evan Simons, Rhys Clarke, Harry Aldous, Dan Turland, Liam McAvoy. Interchange: Matty Barron, Callum Bustin, Sam Luckley, Aaron Teroi.

Barrow Raiders: Ryan Fieldhouse; Shane Toal, Declan Hulme, Eze Harper, Brett Carter; Jamie Dallimore, Lewis Charnock; Joe Bullock, Karl Ashall, Ollie Wilkes, Jarrad Stack, Dan Toal, Martin Aspinwall. Interchange: Nathan Mossop. James Duerden, Andrew Dawson, Tom Walker.

Referee: Callum Straw.