PAUL Crarey hailed a “massive step forward” for Barrow Raiders as they overcame Rochdale Hornets 17-10 in an attritional first game of the Betfred Championship Shield Super Eights.

Raiders trailed 4-0 at half-time after Rochdale stand-off Morgan Smith had kicked two penalties in a fractious and fiery first 40 minutes which saw both sets of players squaring up to each other at times and visiting centre Setareki Talatoka sin-binned for a high tackle on Brett Carter.

But converted tries from Jono Smith and Alec Susino, plus two penalties kicked by Jamie Dallimore, helped Barrow seal the win which took them seven points clear of bottom side Hornets and their fellow strugglers Swinton Lions in the quest to secure Championship status.

“The first half was a bit of a stalemate, but I thought we dominated the whole second half,” said head coach Crarey. “It was always a little bit jittery, it was always a little bit tense and you could feel the tension in the dressing room before the game for both sides.

“Out on the field when it started, there were little incidents with both sides blowing up and that's not like us. That's what you get when you're fighting for your lives and it was last-chance saloon for them.

“They've got to win four games now to overtake us and so have Swinton, so we can relax a little bit, but I think we need one or two points to secure Championship status for this club.

“But it was a massive step forward for this club, especially after seven straight losses and bringing people back.”

Try-scorer Smith was one of the players returning to the Barrow line-up after a spell out injured, with Dan Toal, Ryan Fieldhouse and Jarrad Stack coming back into the side too and captain Martin Aspinwall playing off the bench despite suffering from illness.

Crarey revealed afterwards it was a case of having to try to manage several of those through the game after prolonged absences, but was pleased with how they fared in what was at times a bruising and brutal contest.

He was pleased with the Raiders' showing in the second half as well, where they adopted a more direct approach which led to the two tries and felt Rochdale's last-play try from Deon Cross led to the final score making the half look closer than it had been.

“It was the same scenario as last time we played them, but we had a four-point cushion then and we knew it would be a grind out, and they'd come to play and spoil,” said Crarey.

“I thought the officials helped them out with that; the 10s were seven and six metres for both sides, and the rucks were so slow it was hard to play out of dummy-half and on the front foot, so it was an absolute grind.

“At half time, we said it won't be structure which will win this game, it will be push and support and that's how we got the tries in the end.

“We went a bit more direct, didn't over-play and completed at 86 per cent, and probably the scoreline at the end was a little bit of injustice to the way we performed in the second half.”