Barrow Raiders head coach Paul Crarey admits his side were architects of their own downfall, after they squandered a half-time lead to lose away at Keighley Cougars.

The Raiders led 20-10 at half-time but we’re beaten at Cougar Park as the home side scored 16 unanswered points in the second 40.

A double from Andrew Bulman, plus a Josh Wood try and eight points from the boot of Ryan Shaw, looked to have given the Raiders the upper hand, but they couldn’t see the job through in West Yorkshire.

“We couldn’t do any more to feed them than we did,” Crarey said post-match.

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“We knocked on on play two down the left edge, we gave them field position and kicked out on the full, we passed the ball from centre to winger rather than running the ball on play three.

“We gave them a mountain of possession, and I thought they capitalised on that.

“Some of their tries were barge-overs, after we were under massive fatigue from defending for large periods of the second half.

“We did everything to lose the game in the first 20 minutes of the second half. It was only towards the back end of the game that we got some field position, but we were too fatigued to throw any shape at them and we lost our way a little bit.

“I’m very, very disappointed. I thought we were so in control in the first half. The slope plays a big part in that, and we played downhill.

“It wasn’t enough, and they scored 16 unanswered points which is disappointing.”

Defeat sets up a crucial Round 25 meeting with Swinton Lions at the Matt Johnson Prestige Stadium next Sunday. Victory would leave the Raiders needing just one more win to mathematically secure their Championship status for another season.

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The Raiders will be without Shane Toal under concussion protocols, but Crarey insists the players he has available need to be ready for the challenge facing them.

“Swinton will throw more at us than Keighley did. They were very unlucky in York today, I believe,” he added.

“One win takes us above our Cumbrian rivals, and if we win next week it puts pressure on Swinton as well.

“We’ve got to all stick together. We’ve done really well over this period and we’re not going to throw the towel in.”

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