WELCOME TO MY WORLD

Four days after losing a gruelling final in the Northern Rail Cup against Widnes Barrow Raiders (my hometown team) had to travel up the coast to face Cumbrian opponents Whitehaven in a National league clash.

Barrow have had little time to recover from the fatigue and injuries which the final must have left them with so Whitehaven should be the freshest side. As the first half got going the Raiders looked fresh enough and for the most part during the first half were the better side, Barrow scored the first points in the game with a very good try by the speedy James Nixon on the wing following a nice pass from the always reliable Martin Ostler.

As the first half wore on though, despite the fact that Barrow still looked the better side Whitehaven (in my opinion against the run of play) scored 2 break away tries and despite the Raiders best efforts the half time score was 10 – 4 to Whitehaven.

For a few minutes at the start of the second half Barrow pressed but from there onward Whitehaven took control of the game, almost the whole second half of the game was played in the Barrow half of the pitch. All points in the second half were scored by Haven, Barrow managed to add nothing to the scoreboard sadly.

The Raiders visibly tired as the second half wore on and a few players looked less than 100% fit, Jamie Butler was obviously struggling with a leg injury but still had to come back on, Brett McDermott went off during first half and wasn’t able to come back on apparently suffering from possible cracked ribs, not good news for Barrow.

At the end of a pretty miserable second half for Barrow the final score was Whitehaven 28 – 4 Barrow Raiders.