TWO tries from John Davies helped condemn Barrow Raiders to 34-6 defeat in their final game of their first season back in the Betfred Championship at Featherstone Rovers this afternoon.

It was a typical end-of-season affair at Post Office Road with little riding on it for either team, and it was littered with handling errors and penalties which saw three men – two for the hosts, one for the visitors – shown yellow cards.

But Featherstone emerged victorious after Barrow had matched them early on, setting the Yorkshire side up perfectly for next week’s Championship Shield final at home to Leigh Centurions.

Having given up possession 10 metres on their line when Brett Carter knocked on in the tackle early on, Barrow regained their composure and made some early inroads – their cause being further aided when Rovers’ Anthony Thackeray was sin-binned following a string of penalties against the hosts.

However, it was Featherstone who took the lead despite temporarily being a man down, with the opening score coming in the 11th minute when Luke Cooper dotted down from a grubber kick by Martyn Ridyard, who kicked the conversion too.

Barrow got back on level terms seven minutes later and it was courtesy of a little piece of good fortune as an offload from Arnaud Bartes close to the line struck Jamie Dallimore on the knee and bounced perfectly for him to dot down, along with the stand-off converting.

The rest of the half was all Featherstone though as the visitors found themselves being repeatedly pinged by referee Tom Crashley, particularly around the tackle and ruck area.

Rovers retook the lead on 28 minutes after a penalty allowed them to gain good field position and it was in a similar manner to their first try as scrum-half Thackeray put in a low kick which Josh Hardcastle powered onto the end of for an unconverted score.

Then on 35 minutes, two consecutive penalties – the second of which saw the Raiders put on a team warning - saw Fev advance quickly up field and finish with Thackeray sending over Connor Farrell for a try converted by Ridyard, which was enough to give the home side a 10-point half-time lead.

That was increased to 16 points within six minutes of the restart as second row Davies jinked his way through the Raiders defence from around 30 metres out to score, followed by Ian Hardman converting.

Davies was in again 11 minutes later, crashing over from close range and Hardman kicked his second conversion which took him past 100 goals for the season.

After this, the match became increasingly disjointed for both teams and both sides had men sin-binned in the closing stages – Dean Parata for Barrow after a high tackle and Rovers try-scorer Hardcastle for a professional foul.

There was still time for Featherstone to finish with a flourish though as Shaun Robinson sprinted away for a try, converted by Hardman, despite the best efforts of Carter to stop him. For Barrow, the focus now switches to next season and consolidating their place in an expanded division.

Featherstone Rovers: Martyn Ridyard; Dakota Whyle, Misi Taulapapa, Josh Hardcastle, Shaun Robinson; Shaun Thackeray, Matty Wildie; Luke Cooper, Danny Maskill, Connor Farrell, John Davies, James Lockwood. Interchange: Keal Carlisle, Brad Knowles, Ian Hardman.

Barrow Raiders: Ryan Fieldhouse; Brett Carter, Danny Morrow, Ryan Burroughs, Georgy Gambaro; Jamie Dallimore, Lewis Charnock; Glenn Riley, Dean Parata, Arnaud Bartes, Jono Smith, Matty Holmes, Dan Toal. Interchange: Ryan Johnston, Ryan Duffy, Bradd Crellin, Matty While.

Referee: Tom Crashley.