Barrow Island Ladies put their Women's Challenge Cup disappointment against Warrington behind them as they came from behind to earn a hard-fought 12-8 win over Widnes Vikings in the Women's Championship at Ostley Bank last Sunday.

It was soon apparent that the damp weather would be a big factor in the game as both sides made early handling errors.

Once the game settled down it was Widnes who took the advantage by putting Barrow under pressure with some strong running and a clever kicking game.

They opened the scoring with a well-taken penalty, which gave the visitors confidence and they were soon on the attack again, but great handling and returns from Natalie Saunders and Lizzie Herring eased the pressure for a while.

A well organised Widnes side never gave up, however, and from a quick scrum caught Barrow asleep to score under the sticks, with the conversion making the half-time score 8-0.

As the weather improved for the second half, Barrow knew they were in a game and had to start well and they duly as Jodie Litherland, Michelle Larkin and Sam Norman came more into the game.

As time ticked by, however, Barrow and their supporters were becoming anxious as chance after chance was squandered.

With 25 minutes to go, it finally happened for the hosts, as some quick play from Beth Lindsay and Leah Cottier saw Emily Stirzaker receive the ball out wide and with some strong running she crashed over to score, Litherland converted, 6-8.

Barrow started to pressurise the Widnes defence again as Jess Alexandra and Crawford pushed forward, with the latter crashing over from ten yards to score a well-worked try that put her side 10-8 in front.

Now in the ascendency, Barrow continued to drive forward and got their reward when Litherland slotted another two points after Widnes were penalised for ripping the ball.