AS he has done several times before, Jamie Dallimore stepped up to the plate at the key moment to earn Barrow Raiders an 18-18 draw in their final pre-season friendly at home to Wigan Warriors.

Played in horrendous wet and windy conditions, the match at Craven Park saw the Super League champions – who included former Barrow man Chris Hankinson and Dalton youth product Liam Paisley in their line-up – holding a two-point lead going into the closing stages of an end-to-end battle.

But a last-minute penalty awarded against the Warriors allowed Raiders stand-off Dallimore to level the scores, which he duly did to ensure it finished honours even and give the hosts some extra encouragement ahead of the Betfred Championship opener at Batley Bulldogs a week tomorrow.

Much of the play in the first 40 minutes was dictated by the torrential rain and while Barrow spent large periods of it in their own half due to handling errors, Wigan were unable to make the most of their opportunities for the same reason.

The breakthrough eventually came in the 14th minute and, predictably, it was ex-Raider Hankinson who got the score. The Warriors had forced a drop-out which the hosts tried to kick short, but it fell to the feet of Escare and he immediately kicked ahead for the centre to dot down on the right for an unconverted try.

Barrow started to make inroads after this though, with their big men in the middle making the hard yards and hooker Wartovo Puara Jr providing some dynamism around the ruck, including drawing a penalty for offside after scooting for the try-line from dummy-half.

This gave them excellent position to attack from and they took advantage after Wigan concede a scrum for knocking on while defending, with Puara picking out Jono Smith from play-the-ball after he had run a smart line for the second row to score close to the posts. However, Jamie Dallimore was unable to convert.

The rest of the half was something of an arm-wrestle, but Wigan ended it down to 12 men after Oliver Partington was sin-binned for a shoulder charge after the visitors had been placed on a team warning following three quick penalties against them.

It was level at the break, but Barrow moved ahead four minutes into the second half when Ryan Johnston set up Tom Walker to crash through for a score which was converted by Lewis Charnock.

Two unconverted tries in the space of 10 minutes restored Wigan’s lead though, first when Sammut chipped over the top for Joe Brown to sprint through and dot down on 54 minutes followed by Joe Worthington stabbing through a grubber and diving on the ball after Charnock had been sin-binned following the hosts being placed on a team warning.

The see-saw nature of the game continued as the conditions worsened and with 16 minutes left, Deon Cross put the Raiders back ahead in a similar manner to Worthington, with Dallimore’s conversion making the gap four points.

Wigan looked to have snatched a win with seven minutes to go when Samuel Kibula broke through some stubborn goal-line defence for a try and Sammut converted. However, with just 17 seconds to go, Dallimore had the final say when the visitors conceded a penalty 30 metres out.

Barrow Raiders: Stargroth Amean; Tee Ritson, Deon Cross, Jake Spedding, Tom Loxam; Jamie Dallimore, Lewis Charnock; Tom Walker, Wartovo Puara Jr, Glenn Riley, Jono Smith, Bradd Crellin, Martin Aspinwall. Interchange: Ryan Johnston, Jake Carter, Jordan Walne, Willie Minoga, Adam Ford, Ryan Duffy, Declan Hulme, Nathan Mossop.

Wigan Warriors: Morgan Escare; Craig Mullen, Chris Hankinson, James Worthington, Liam Forsyth; Jake Shorrocks, Jarrod Sammut; Taulima Tautai, Joshua Ganson, Liam Byrne, Liam Paisley, Oliver Partington, Callum Field. Interchange: Samuel Kibula, Morgan Smithies, Ben Kilner, Aiden Roden, Joseph Shorrocks, Joe Brown, Nathan Wilde, Umyla Hanley, Harry Smith.

Referee: Scott Mikalauskas.