BARROW RAIDERS coach Paul Crarey said they contributed to their own downfall as the dream of beating a Super League side has to wait following the 32-6 home loss to top-flight newcomers York in round three of the Challenge Cup.
Both sides had a man sent off and one sinbinned in the first half at the Northern Competitions Stadium, with Barrow losing Greg Richards to a red card following a fight with Paul McShane.
The Raiders kept in touch with the visitors before Mark Applegarth’s new-look side took a grip in the final quarter with 18 unanswered points.
Although Barrow made it through with no injuries to report, they will now sweat on the disciplinary outcome relating to Richards and his fellow forward Ryan King, who was shown a yellow card for an alleged shoulder charge.
Crarey said: “There were a few instances that got us into trouble really, but I thought we were in the game.
“At the start, they had penalties all over the place and we conceded two tries, but we stayed in it.
“We had a sitter of a chance on the right edge where we found row six. It just needed a little bit of composure in the corner to put the cat among the pigeons.
“After the fracas, we lost a player (and) fitness was always going to come into it. We had to try and rotate. We had lads who were struggling out there, and I was getting the information to change things up.
“We were probably the cause of our own downfall. You can lose a little bit of dignity, and I thought the scoreline should have been a lot closer.
“We played with a little bit too much emotion, and there were times when there were blow-ups. The fans were frustrated by it, I was frustrated by it, and there might be a couple of bans as well.
“The effort was there, everyone could see that. We threw ourselves into tackles.
“You dream of beating a Super League side, but I don’t think many do it in this era. To get out of it with no injuries was a bonus.
“I’m proud of the efforts, but we’ve got to be smart. You can play on all this emotion, but shoulder charges and little instances let them off. Every time we got them in a position where we might get a good ball set, we let them off with a penalty.
“We’ve got to look after ourselves in instances where we need to control the ball a little bit better.”