BARROW Raiders’ wait for a win on the road in the Betfred Championship goes on after they were edged out 22-20 in a see-saw contest away to Dewsbury Rams this afternoon.

The Raiders were 16-12 up at half time thanks to three penalties from Jamie Dallimore and a converted try from Matty While, but the home side hit back soon after the restart and clinched the win late on.

Rochdale Hornets’ win over Swinton Lions keeps Barrow five points clear of the bottom two, but head coach Paul Crarey has had more injury concerns to deal with now after try-scorer While suffered a suspected broken arm and Jono Smith limped off with a left ankle problem.

Both teams had good opportunities in the opening minutes – Alec Susino being held up over the line the closest either came – but the rest of the opening quarter settled down into something of an evenly-fought tactical battle until Jamie Dallimore kicked the visitors in front from a penalty for a late hit on 18 minutes.

However, Dewsbury got the first try of the game on the board three minutes later, taking advantage of a forward pass in their own 20 by the Raiders following the restart and then them conceding a penalty on the line when Jack Teanby crashed over under the posts and Paul Sykes converted.

Barrow hit back in the 26th minute off the back of some strong carries from returning duo Ryan Fieldhouse and Bradd Crellin, with Dean Parata setting up Matty While – who had only just come off the interchange bench – powering through a gap in the defence from 15 metres out for a try.

Dallimore’s conversion put the Raiders back ahead and the stand-off booted another penalty on the half-hour mark when Dewsbury were penalised for offside.

Then, two minutes before half time, Dallimore kicked a 40/20 and then drew a penalty for holding down following a quickly-taken tap restart, followed by him landing a third successful penalty to put the away side six points up at the interval.

Within two minutes of the second half though, the Rams were back on level terms as a knock-on from a Sykes kick led to the hosts working an attack which led to Sam Day shaping up and scoring under the posts, with Sykes adding the extras.

Dewsbury’s next try saw them swiftly turn defence into attack when a pass from Fieldhouse was intercepted close to their line and returned deep into Barrow territory by Dale Morton, leading to the Rams scoring again on 56 minutes through Gareth Potts out wide.

Sykes was unable to convert though and that looked to have proven costly eight minutes later after Parata stepped on the gas to score with a 40-metre burst, followed by Dallimore converting and then adding a fourth penalty on 66 minutes.

Dewsbury’s Adam Brown then had a try ruled out for a forward pass as the match headed into the last 10 minutes, but the Rams got a roll on and it resulted in Walshaw finding the pace to get over for a score which was converted by James Glover and proved enough to secure victory.

Dewsbury Rams: Josh Gudzek; Gareth Potts, Lucas Walshaw, Adam Ryder, Dale Morton; Paul Sykes, Lewis Heckford; Jode Sheriffe, Dom Speakman, Jack Teanby, Kyle Trout, Michael Knowles, Aaron Brown. Interchange: Sam Day, Toby Everett, Daniel Igbinedion, James Glover.

Barrow Raiders: Ryan Fieldhouse; Jonny Pownall, Jarrad Stack, Tom Loxam, Ryan Burroughs; Jamie Dallimore, Ryan Johnston; Joe Bullock, Nathan Mossop, Alec Susino, Jono Smith, Bradd Crellin, Dan Toal. Interchange: Dean Parata, Ryan Duffy, Ben Garner, Matty While.

Referee: Jack Smith.