BARROW RAIDERS 58 SALFORD RED DEVILS 12
PADDY McATEER, Northern Competitions Stadium, Saturday
BARROW may have won with a half-century of points on the board, but credit goes to a young Salford side for never giving up the chase.
The Red Devils sent their reserves team to Cumbria and fully deserved their twelve points, with Leunbou Bardyel Wells a standout in the pack.
But Barrow were far too hot to handle as they took the game to their opponents from the kick-off, scoring 20 points without reply in the opening 13 minutes.
The game was barely three minutes old when Josh Wood, Luke Cresswell and Matt Costello all handled for Andrew Bulman to slide in at the corner for the first try of a hat-trick.
Four minutes later, Wood linked with Brad Walker whose long ball enabled Bulman to dive in at the corner.
Tom Walker added try number three with the deadly duo Wood and Brad Walker paving the way for the big prop to cross the whitewash.
And Cresswell supported a tremendous break from Ryan King to hit 20 points in a flash.
The Red Devils had hardly felt ball in hand at that point, but did open their account when hard-working halfback Kai Morgan stabbed the ball through the home cover for Raffael Van Osselaer to pounce, with Morgan adding the goal for 20-6.
This lifted the visitors, who strung some neat attacking play together, but they went further behind when Ellis Robson charged down a kick to gather and cover 55 yards to touch down.
Three minutes later, King romped over after being on the end of a perfect pass by Ryan Johnston, who almost had another assist shortly after from a long-range kick, only for Curtis Teare to be brought down a foot short.
But Johnston was the instigator for Bullman to complete his hat-trick when he passed to Cresswell, whose cut-out ball sent the winger in at the corner for a 38-6 half-time score.
Minutes into the second half, Johnston chipped ahead and Teare swooped to go in at the corner to extend their margin even further.
The Devils came back strongly, playing their best rugby of the afternoon at this point with Morgan, Logan Layar and Bardyel Wells in the thick of the action which brought the best out of the home defence.
They got their reward when a neat cross-field kick saw Nathan Connell dot the ball down and Morgan converted again.
However, with Brad Walker dictating, the home side added further points in the closing minutes.
First Walker made a fine break to send Cresswell in for try number two and then, from a scrum, swift hands saw Seth Woodend in at the corner.
To round off the scoring, Walker broke through to send Costello over the line for a try converted by Bulman after Walker converted six of the previous ten tries.
GAMESTAR: Salford prop Leunbou Bardyel Wells had a strong all-round game.
GAMEBREAKER: Barrow’s early pressure saw them 20-0 ahead after just 13 minutes.
MATCHFACTS
RAIDERS
1 Luke Cresswell
2 Andrew Bulman
3 Matt Costello
31 Seth Woodend
18 Curtis Teare
6 Brad Walker
7 Ryan Johnston
8 Tom Walker
9 Josh Wood
10 Ramon Silva
11 Ellis Robson
30 Jarrad Stack
13 Ryan King
Subs (all used)
5 Shane Toal
12 James Greenwood
14 Aaron Smith
16 Charlie Emslie
19 Delaine Gittens-Bedward
20 Brett Carter
24 Trent Ruddy
25 Dan Knott
33 Roly Seward
Tries: Bulman (3, 7, 35), T Walker (10), Cresswell (13, 66), Robson (29), King (32), Teare (49), Woodend (74), Costello (77)
Goals: B Walker 6/10, Bulman 1/1
RED DEVILS
50 Nathan Connell
48 Joe Coope-Franklin
49 Josh Wagstaffe
43 Billy Glover
27 Ethan Fitzgerald
30 Kai Morgan
32 Sean Murray
42 Leunbou Bardyel Wells
35 Finlay Yates
40 Charlie Glover
44 Lucas Coan
34 John Hutchings
31 Jimmy Shields
Subs (all used)
46 Harrison Hope
33 Josh Hopkins
28 Rhyley Hyde
45 Logan Lagar
47 Raffael Van Osselaer
Tries: Van Osselear (20), Connell (65)
Goals: Morgan 2/2
SCORING SEQUENCE: 4-0, 8-0, 14-0, 20-0, 20-6, 26-6, 32-6, 38-6; 42-6, 42-12, 48-12, 52-12, 58-12
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Raiders: Brad Walker; Salford: Leunbou Bardyel Wells
Penalty count: 5-3
Half-time: 38-6
Referee: Cameron Worsley
Attendance: 1,114
