Report: Bradford Bulls 8-18 Barrow Raiders

Barrow Raiders’ fine start to the Betfred Championship season continued with a gritty 18-8 victory over Bradford Bulls at Odsal.

A well-deserved victory was the Raiders’ third at the iconic West Yorkshire venue in the last four seasons, with tries coming from Josh Wood, Ryan Johnston and Luke Cresswell.

The Raiders trailed twice to the Bulls but showed their fighting spirit to come away with the points in Round 4 – tries in either half from Waqa Blake and Jayden Okunbor all that Bradford had to show for their efforts.

Instead, it was the Raiders who enjoyed greater success on their Friday night travels, hooker Wood’s first coming from close range midway through the first half.

Excellent link-up between Cresswell and Johnston saw the latter score on the hour mark to restore the Barrow lead, before Cresswell went from provider to scorer after an error from the hosts to make sure of the win.

Friday’s win saw the Raiders go temporarily top of the Championship table, after three victories from the opening four rounds of the league season.

A return to the Northern Competitions Stadium comes next for Paul Crarey’s men, with York Knights the visitors in Round 5 on Sunday 30 March.

Tickets for that fixture are available here.

BRADFORD BULLS 8

Tries: Blake, Okunbor

Goals:

BARROW RAIDERS 18

Tries: Wood, Johnston, Cresswell

Goals: Bishop 3