Barrow 18 London Broncos 18

BARROW saw their hopes of victory dashed at the last minute as London Broncos outscored their hosts.

Barrow were not at their best, and were sluggish at times, and it was heartbreak for Luke Cresswell in the final minute as he could only watch full-back Alex Walker go in for the try under the posts.

A kick sent high into the sky came down with Cresswell stretching to gain possession, he failed to gather and in swooped Walker to race over for Siti Moceidreke to bring the scores level with the conversion.

Barrow were repeatedly penalised and never really got into their normal flow of open rugby.

They did, however, look on top in the opening minutes, Hakim Miloudi weaving in and out of the Broncos defence only for the Raiders to run out of tackles.

And when London knocked on 30 yards from the home line, Tee Ritson took Jake Carter's pass from the scrum to cut through the cover to race in from 70 yards, Sammut landing a touchline goal 6-0.

And when Carter gained a scrum from a 40-20 kick, Jarrad Stack was held up over the line.

London were finding it hard to penetrate as the points were added to Barrow's tally.

Again from a scrum, Sammut went down the short side feeding Miloudi and Ritson was diving in at the corner, Sammut obliging with the goal to make it 12-0.

London's failure was losing the ball too often but they did manage to get on the score board on 34 minutes when Calum Gahan went in at the corner, no goal 12-4 at the break.

The Broncos were down to 12 men early in the second half with Paul Ulberg was sin-binned for a late tackle. However, it was they who were next to score when Shane Toal was penalised for chatting while Barrow were in possession. The Broncos moved swiftly upfield and a fine break by Paulos Latu saw him go in from 40 yards, again no goal 12-8.

Barrow were soon to respond when Shane Toal raced over after good work by Ritson who broke through, he fed Miloudi who sent the winger over the white-wash, Sammut adding the goal to make it 18-8.

A long pass then enabled Iliess MacAni to get over in the corner for a third unconverted try with the scores nicely poised at 18-12.

It was game on and the Broncos stunned the home fans, 1,979 in numbers, when Walker swooped to score. In the final seconds, Sammut was short with a drop goal attempt.

Next weekend, Barrow are home to Huddersfield in the Challenge Cup (ko 4.30pm) with the game being screened live on BBC2.