TWO tries apiece from Brad Day and Dave Scott saw Barrow Raiders brought back down to earth after going down 32-12 away to Batley Bulldogs in this afternoon’s Betfred Championship encounter.

The Raiders went into the clash at Mount Pleasant aiming to build on strong results against Toronto Wolfpack and Leigh Centurions, and having gone 12-0 up inside the first 10 minutes would have had high hopes of doing just that.

But Batley managed to assert themselves on the game with a mix of their power and physicality, punishing the Raiders for errors they came up with and ensuring the away side’s 17-year run of having not won a game at this venue continued.

There was a first appearance of the year in the Barrow side for Danny Morrow, who came in for the injured Dan Toal following a spell out to recuperate from an operation on his shoulder.

And Morrow could well have put the visitors ahead as early as the second minute, only for him to spill a pass from Dean Parata following a clever chip-kick from Jamie Dallimore on the last tackle.

Nevertheless, it was the away side – playing down the slope – who took the lead four minutes later when a short pass from Parata to fellow Italy international Alec Susino saw the prop break the line and send through support runner Fieldhouse for a try which Dallimore converted.

The Raiders were in again for a converted try on 10 minutes, with prop Susino going from provider to scorer by bashing his way over from close range to finish a good team move after Batley’s Dane Manning had knocked on inside his own 20 metres.

However, the Bulldogs rallied and punished Barrow for errors which started to creep into their game, starting when Dallimore took the ball dead in-goal from a restart for a drop-out, followed by the Raiders then giving away a penalty.

That led to Brad Day finding a gap in the defence to score on 12 minutes, with Patch Walker kicking the extras.

At the other end, Susino dropped the ball over the line from a Parata pass on 18 minutes and four minutes later, the scores were level when the Bulldogs took advantage of a repeat set to put in place a move which saw Dane Manning power through for a converted try.

Then with nine minutes to go before the break, another spell of pressure from Batley led to Wayne Reittie scoring an unconverted try in the corner after fielding a kick out wide from experienced half-back Dom Brambani, despite the best efforts of Brett Carter to stop him from getting over.

That put them into a four-point lead at the interval and it took less than four minutes for the Bulldogs to surge further ahead as Day ghosted through the Barrow defence for his second of the afternoon, followed by Walker again converting.

Bulldogs full-back Scott then got in on the scoring act; the first coming on 49 minutes when he strolled through a huge gap in the Raiders’ defensive line to give Walker an easy conversion and the second on the hour mark when he finished a move from a penalty in the corner.

But that proved to be the final score for either team as the second half became increasingly scrappy, with the game ending on a sour note as Barrow hooker Dean Parata and Batley’s Joe Chandler were sent to the sin-bin for fighting just before the final hooter.

Batley Bulldogs: David Scott; Wayne Reittie, Dan Cowling, Jason Crooks, Shaun Ainscough; Patch Walker, Dom Brambani; Adam Gledhill, Alistair Leak, Alex Rowe, Dane Manning, Bradley Day, Tom Holland. Interchange: Tom Hemingway, Michael Ward, Joe Chandley, James Brown.

Barrow Raiders: Ryan Fieldhouse; Shane Toal, Jarrad Stack, Declan Hulme, Brett Carter; Jamie Dallimore, Karl Ashall; Ryan Duffy, Dean Parata, Alec Susino, Danny Morrow, Bradd Crellin, Martin Aspinwall. Interchange: Nathan Mossop, Joe Bullock, Tom Walker, Glenn Riley.

Referee: Greg Dolan.