THE week leading up to yesterday’s Cumbrian derby saw Paul Crarey call on the help of amateurs Barrow Island to come down to Craven Park and allow his side to run defensive drills against them.

It is a call the National Conference League Division Three outfit, along with other community clubs in the area, have been more than willing to answer on several occasions, and once again its benefit showed as Barrow Raiders began the Kingstone Press League One Super Eights with victory over Whitehaven.

As had been the case in the opening weeks of the season, the foundation for the 15-2 victory was laid by the efforts in defence – the most impressive aspect of that being the way they restricted their hosts to a solitary penalty from the boot of Paul Crook two minutes into the second half.

The low-scoring nature of the contest, which had seen neither team able to break the deadlock prior to the half-time hooter, might suggest this was something of a grinding, turgid affair.

Nothing could be further from the truth though, and even the scoreless first 40 minutes proved enthralling and almost edge-of-the-seat stuff at times as both teams searched for the key to unlocking their opponents’ defence.

And it was Barrow who eventually did find a way to the try-line as the clock ticked over into the final 20 minutes, with Jarrad Stack applying the finish following a spell of pressure, and Ryan Fieldhouse getting in on the act as well to put the seal on the victory 11 minutes from time.

The try was just reward for Stack, who was back in the second row after a spell playing at centre – briefly reprising that role in a tactical shift after Shane Toal had to temporarily leave the field – and along with Bradd Crellin barely missed a beat in both attack and defence. Half-back pairing Jamie Dallimore and Lewis Charnock were back to their effervescent best too, with stand-off Dallimore showing how much he is coming into his own as a kicker with two conversions and a penalty while Charnock was nursing an ankle injury, plus a drop-goal.

In truth though, it would be unfair to single out too many individuals.

Defensively especially, this was a superb team performance from Barrow and proved the perfect response to the 32-6 defeat against the same opponents on the same ground two weeks prior.

The signs Raiders would be a much different proposition this time around were there from the opening minutes; the play-the-balls were quicker, there was more fluency to their attacking game – Karl Ashall’s darting runs from dummy-half in particular caused problems – and it was only some handling errors and impressive defence from Whitehaven which prevented them getting over.

Their best chance of the first half came when Fieldhouse had found Toal on the wing with a cut-out pass on 25 minutes, only for him to be bundled into touch with some impressive tackling from Jessie Joe Parker and James Newton.

Both sides turned down the chances for kicks at goal from penalties to keep the pressure on during those first 40 minutes, while Whitehaven found Barrow’s defence equally difficult to break down when they had the ball.

That proved the same after the break, even with the home side in the ascendancy after Crook had slotted over a kick from in front of the posts after a high tackle on 42 minutes – the closest they came being Scott McAvoy having a try ruled out for a forward pass.

Raiders opted to keep kicking for touch though, and were rewarded for their persistence on 52 minutes when a restart from a penalty saw props Joe Bullock and Tom Walker make some strong carries, followed by the ball being shifted along the line for Stack to burst through the gap for the opening try.

Dallimore’s kicking kept the scoreboard ticking over for Raiders, and as Whitehaven started to lose their composure, their defence was opened up again when Ashall darted from a play-the-ball, and fed Dallimore to send Fieldhouse over for another converted score.

Whitehaven’s misery was compounded when Glenn Riley was sin-binned on 72 minutes for a late hit off the ball, leaving Barrow to see out the match and celebrate a win which put them back up to second on points difference from their vanquished opponents.

Whitehaven: Elliott Miller; Jordan Burns, Chris Taylor, Jessie Joe Parker, Dave Thompson; Dion Aiye, Paul Crook; Jordan Hand, James Tilley, Glenn Riley, Connor Holliday, Scott McAvoy, Carl Forster. Interchange: Steve Roper, James Newton, Karl Olstrom, Tommy Holland.

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

Referee: Gareth Hewer.