Liam Harris the star as York Knights outclass Barrow Raiders

BARROW RAIDERS 12 YORK KNIGHTS 36
PADDY McATEER, Northern Competitions Stadium, Sunday

YORK shone in the Cumbrian sun to make it back-to-back wins with the help of a Liam Harris hat-trick of tries to go with his three goals.

The Knights outclassed their hosts with some fine creative work and sound tackling.

Barrow were close to full strength, but far off the mark, and had no answer to lively halfback Harris, who ran them ragged.

The Raiders were their own worst enemies. They came up with error after error and were nothing like as good in defence as they had been in wins over Oldham and Bradford.

Coach Paul Crarey could claim his side was disrupted with early injuries to key forwards Ryan King and Tom Walker.

However there can be no excuses as the home side looked out of sorts against a much livelier York team.

Barrow again had old boy Tee Ritson playing on loan from St Helens, but the ball never reached him in a decent position.

Harris and veteran Paul McShane dominated in the first period, with Barrow being stretched.

McShane peppered Luke Broadbent with high balls, Broadbent having moved to fullback with Luke Cresswell out with a neck injury.

While Barrow’s Jarrad Stack was held up over the line, it seemed only a matter of time before York struck.

The score came from Harris, who went on a dazzling run down the touchline before cutting inside Broadbent to dot the ball down and then convert.

Tom Walker and King soon departed and York were almost in for a second, McShane and Jordan Thompson working the ball neatly into the arms of Brenden Santi, who lost it close to the Barrow line.

Barrow rarely got into York territory, but on 27 minutes Ryan Brown broke in midfield and Ryan Johnston was in support to score, with Brad Walker adding the goal to level at 6-6.

However from the restart, Broadbent failed to deal with a deep kick and was tackled over his own line. From the drop-out and on the last tackle, a neat chip over the line enabled Harris to pounce, amid offside claims by Barrow. Harris tagged on the two.

Two minutes from the break, McShane sent Jesse Dee through a yawning gap to score, but the effort was ruled out due to a forward pass.

Early in the second half, Ellis Robson went close for Barrow, before Broadbent pulled off a try-saving tackle on Joe Law.

Six minutes in, Harris took on the Barrow defence and nipped in for a try which Taylor Pemberton converted.

Barrow responded when neat play from right to left ended with Robson crashing over for Brad Walker to improve.

But within three minutes, York swooped on a loose ball and Ben Jones-Bishop was in for an easy try improved by Pemberton, who also converted Dee’s 57th-minute effort.

Harris slotted over a penalty-goal before Jude Ferreira romped in wide out.

GAMESTAR: York halfback Liam Harris ran the show with a well-taken hat-trick plus three goals.

GAMEBREAKER: Jesse Dee’s 57th-minute converted try, with the Knights going 30-12 ahead.

MATCHFACTS
RAIDERS
4 Luke Broadbent
2 Andrew Bulman
5 Shane Toal
18 Curtis Teare
30 Tee Ritson
22 Alex Bishop
7 Ryan Johnston
8 Tom Walker
9 Josh Wood
32 Ryan Brown
11 Ellis Robson
24 Jarrad Stack
13 Ryan King
Subs (all used)
14 Aaron Smith
6 Brad Walker
33 Jamie Pye
16 Charlie Emslie

Tries: Johnston (27), Robson (47)
Goals: B Walker 2/2

KNIGHTS
2 Joe Brown
34 Ben Jones-Bishop
3 Kieran Buchanan
20 Oli Field
4 Joe Law
9 Paul McShane
7 Liam Harris
8 Jack Martin
19 Sam Cook
24 Harvey Reynolds
11 Jesse Dee
12 Connor Bailey
13 Jordan Thompson
Subs (all used)
14 Taylor Pemberton
15 Jack Teanby
10 Brenden Santi
29 Jude Ferreira