Back to bottom after Park loss
ROCHDALE Hornets came up short in their Championship match on Sunday after they were beaten against Barrow Raiders at Craven Park.
Two second-half tries from Joe Bullock helped Barrow pick up the victory and condemn Alan Kilshaw’s side to defeat away from home.
The loss has seen Hornets drop back to the bottom of the Betfred Championship table, as they now have an inferior points difference to Swinton Lions.
A low-scoring first half saw Barrow leading 4-0 at the break thanks to two penalties from Jamie Dallimore, before two tries from Joe Bullock, along with further tries from Declan Hulme and Ryan Fieldhouse making certain of the win.
Both teams had chances throughout the first half, with Hornets denied a possible try from Deon Cross in the seventh minute for a double movement after he had been tackled close to the line by Dan Toal.
At the other end, Barrow had several chance to break the deadlock, with the first coming on 18 minutes when Hulme was unable to hold onto a pass from Karl Ashall.
Just two minutes later, Shane Toal fumbled a cutout pass to the right wing from Ryan Fieldhouse while over the line. Rochdale tried to immediately counter-attack as from a quick 20-metre tap restart, Declan Kay burst away, only to be hauled down on halfway by Ryan Johnston and to knock on in the process.
Hornets then compounded the error by conceding a penalty at the resulting scrum, allowing Barrow to launch another attack from deep inside the visitors’ territory, but Kilshaw’s side were able to prevent the hosts from scoring.
The deadlock was eventually broken in the 33rd minute though when Hornets were penalised for not being square at the play-the-ball, allowing Raiders stand-off Dallimore to kick the home side in front from 30 metres out.
Fieldhouse then had a try ruled out for an obstruction, but the Hornets were pinged for the same infringement 40 metres from their line soon after, with Dallimore again taking advantage to put Barrow further ahead at the break.
The home side looked to build on that and were quick out of the blocks at the start of the second half, and they added to their lead within four minutes of the restart when Smith scooped up a loose ball, setting up an attack which was finished with Dallimore sending centre Hulme over for the game’s first try. An interception from Matty While then ended a promising Hornets attack and when they knocked on in their own 20 metres from a kick by Johnston, it led to Barrow working a simple move from the scrum which saw Dallimore again providing the assist, this time for Fieldhouse.
The match was put beyond doubt just after the hour mark when Johnston set prop Bullock slicing through the defence for a third unconverted try.
Despite trailing, Hornets continued to push and were able to keep their faint hopes of a fightback alive five minutes later when Setareki Talatoka chased down a kick for a try which Tyler Whittaker converted.
It wasn’t to be though, and Bullock put the match beyond doubt two minutes from time when he forced his way over for Barrow’s fourth and final try as the hosts earned the win and Hornets suffered a defeat.