Barrow Raiders head coach Paul Crarey has said that there are lessons to be learnt as his side fell to their first defeat in the Betfred Championship at the Matt Johnson Prestige Stadium on Sunday.
The Raiders conceded three unanswered tries in the first 25 minutes of the encounter, before the situation was compounded after Hakim Miloudi was sent off and Jarrad Stack was sent to the sin bin.
Despite being down to 11 men, the Raiders struck back just before half-time thanks to a try from Ryan Shaw, going into the interval at 20-6.
Tries from Danny Morrow and debutant Morgan Escaré indicated a fightback from the Raiders, but it was to no avail as Batley held their ground to see out a 30-18 victory.
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Speaking post-match, Paul Crarey was disappointed with his team’s performance in the first 25 minutes of the game, but insisted that they showed great character to react to going down to 11 men.
“We knew it would be a very physical start and we didn’t handle that,” he said, “We didn’t challenge kicks, we didn’t put pressure on the kicker and they got kicks off which we were not contesting. You don’t deserve anything if you don’t contest the ball and compete in areas.
“After that period where we lost Hakim [Miloudi], Jarrad [Stack] and we were down to 11 men, we fought hard and showed great character to get within twelve points with six minutes to go.
“We tried valiantly to get back but to no avail,” Crarey added, “There are lessons to be learnt on how to manage the game into the wind and our processes.
“You’ve got to be smart and think all of the time, we were not on it [against Batley], it’s very difficult to back up after a big game [against Huddersfield Giants in the Challenge Cup].
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