TWO tries from Oldham three-quarter Zack McComb helped condemn Barrow Raiders to a 24-10 defeat at Craven Park this afternoon in their first pre-season match of the year.

The Raiders had taken the lead through flying 17-year-old winger Adam Ford following a promising start, but a side which was without several players – including no specialist hooker due to Nathan Mossop suffering a minor injury – lost their way after this.

Having established a four-point lead at half time, Betfred League One side Oldham then took control of the contest in the second half and punished Barrow for several handing errors and misplaced passes, with McComb leading the way for the Roughyeds.

Barrow handed new signings Tee Ritson, Jake Spedding, Deon Cross and Jordan Walne starts, with Furness Raiders player Ford featuring as well and fellow under-19s player Charlie Emslie on the interchange bench.

Papua New Guinea trio Willie Minoga, Wartovo Puara Jr and Stargroth Amean were not playing after only arriving in the country on Friday but got the chance to watch their new team-mates in action for the first time and were introduced to the crowd at half time.

At that point, the hosts were trailing 8-4 after a slow-burning first 40 minutes, although it was the Raiders who had taken the lead with 10 minutes gone.

New boys Cross and Spedding had shown a glimpse of what they can do with some neat interplay down the left wing which saw Barrow break from inside their own half for a promising attack which ultimately came to naught.

But when Oldham lost the ball in Barrow's half, Bradd Crellin scooped it up and passed to Declan Hulme, who in turn fed young winger Ford for the former Wigan Warriors youth player to sprint 70 metres down the right to open the scoring with an unconverted try.

It was pretty much all the Roughyeds after this though and a spell of pressure from the visitors led to them evening things up in the 30th minute when Ben Calland went over in the right corner.

Oldham were in again three minutes later when a knock-on led to them gaining a scrum inside Barrow’s 20-metre zone and the ball was quickly worked out wide for McComb to go over for another unconverted score.

It was a similar story when play resumed as Oldham forced a drop-out and Scott Law powered his way over for a try converted by David Hewitt five minutes into the second half, followed by McComb bursting through for his second 11 minutes later.

The win was sealed when Matthew Wilkinson dabbed through a grubber kick which the Raiders defence failed to deal with and chased it down to score behind the posts, with Hewitt again adding the extras.

There was, however, the consolation for Barrow of Jake Carter – signed in the off-season after graduating from the Furness Raiders set-up – getting a try with three minutes to go, which came after Ryan Johnston had put up a high kick which troubled Oldham’s defence.

Barrow Raiders: Tee Ritson; Adam Ford, Declan Hulme, Jake Spedding, Deon Cross; Jamie Dallimore, Ryan Johnston; Tom Walker, Lewis Charnock, Glenn Riley, Jono Smith, Bradd Crellin, Jordan Walne. Interchange: Jake Carter, Ryan Duffy, Danny Morrow, Charlie Emslie.

Oldham: Ritchie Hawkyard; Aaron Jones-Bishop, Kyran Jones, Jack Holmes, Zack McComb; David Hewtt, Anthony Bowman; Philip Joy, Gareth Owen, Scott Law, Liam Bent, Ben Calland, Jack Spencer. Interchange: Matthew Wilkinson, Jamie Greenwood, Luke Nelmes, Harry Maders.

Referee: Brad Milligan.