KIERON Dixon ran in two tries for London Broncos as Barrow Raiders were given a chastening introduction to life back in the Betfred Championship by their full-time opponents in Sunday’s season-opener at the Trailfinders Sports Ground.

The teams were evenly matched in the opening exchanges and the Raiders managed to force a drop-out thanks to a great chase from Andy Litherland after Jamie Dallimore had put in a testing kick on the last tackle.

London started to gain some ascendancy after this, but the defensive work done in training by Barrow was coming to the fore – typified when Declan Hulme came up with an interception on his own line on the last tackle.

The Broncos’ pressure eventually yielded the opening score, although it took a bit of solo magic from half-back James Meadows as he evaded two would-be tacklers to find his way through for a try which Jarrod Sammut converted.

Former Workington Town man Sammut was involved in the home side’s second try 10 minutes, later, unlocking a stubborn Barrow defence with a superb low, cross-field kick which was scooped up by Ben Hellewell and passed on for Kieran Dixon to score out wide.

Sammut converted that as well, but the Broncos were unable to kick on from this and started to make unforced errors, including two forward passes. Barrow duly took advantage and a long spell in London territory led to Dallimore darting through for a 31st-minute try which Lewis Charnock converted.

However, the Broncos hit back four minutes later when a penalty allowed them to set up an attack which was finished by second row Daniel Harrison crashing over for a third converted score which gave the hosts a 12-point advantage at the break.

London began to turn the screw when play resumed, with their forwards in particular making inroads. Barrow gave away a string of penalties for high tackles too, and a tap 15 metres out saw the Broncos work the ball across the line for Kieran Dixon to grab an unconverted score in the corner on 52 minutes.

They were in again two minutes later, with Eddie Battye slipping through a hole in the defence and powering away for a converted score, followed by scrum-half Sammut beating Shane Toal while contesting a high ball and dotting down for a try which he converted on 67 minutes.

Dixon’s second, plus further tries from Mark Ioane, Matt Davis and Alex Walker in the last five minutes added some gloss to the final score for the Broncos, but the Raiders had the final say when Fieldhouse chased down a Dallimore kick for a converted try.

London Broncos: Alex Walker; Rhys Williams, Will Lovell, Ben Hellewell, Kieran Dixon; James Meadows, Jarrod Sammut; Tom Spencer, James Cunningham, Mark Ioane, Daniel Harrison, Jay Pitts, Matt Davis. Interchange: Eddie Battye, Sadiq Adebiyi, Matt Gee, Sam Davis.

Barrow Raiders: Ryan Fieldhouse; Shane Toal, Declan Hulme, Andy Literland, Brett Carter; Jamie Dallimore, Lewis Charnock; Joe Bullock, Dean Parata, Alec Susino, Jono Smith, Jarrad Stack, Martin Aspinwall. Interchange: Nathan Mossop, Tom Walker, Glenn Riley, Dan Toal.

Referee: John McMullen.