REPORT | Dons 12 Barrow Raiders 36

The Dons lost out under the lights of the Eco-Power Stadium as they were beaten by Barrow Raiders in the Betfred Championship.

Connor Jones and Loui McConnell both scored first half tries for Richard Horne's side, but they narrowly trailed at the break as the Raiders found three of their own.

The Dons failed to seriously threaten the try line in the second half, though, and the visitors pulled away on the scoreboard to take home a 24-point winning margin.
Horne made four changes to the side that exited the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup away at London Broncos three days earlier, with Brad Hey, Connor Robinson, Brad Knowles and Alex Sutcliffe all handed spots inside the starting XIII. Tom Holmes made his 200th senior career appearance on the night from full back.
It was fairly even during the early stages of the game, but the Dons were the side to make the first error of the night.
Watson Boas dropped the ball inside his own ten, and Joe Bullock was the fastest to react for Barrow as he made the line directly underneath the posts. Brad Walker added the extras. 0-6 on ten minutes.
Too many errors snuck into the hosts' game initially, and the visitors capitalised to double their lead nine minutes later. The Raiders created an overload on the right-hand side and found Curtis Teare, who scored with relative ease. Walker converted.
Horne's men responded this time after 25 minutes. Connor Jones found a gap in the middle of the park and glided through to ground just to the left of the uprights. Robinson added the extras.
The Dons had suddenly halved the deficit as the tide began to turn.
And on 35 minutes, they were level. Cory Aston handed to Pauli Pauli, who bulldozed his way towards the line and then found McConnell, who rolled his way over from a short distance out. Robinson converted. 12-12.
But Barrow struck back in the final minute of the opening 40. Walker worked his way into the goal area to ground and then stepped up to convert his own try and put his side six points in front again.
The Raiders almost extended their lead on the sounding of the half time hooter with a kick over the top, but James Glover had it covered, and the football ran long to leave the scoreline at 12-18 at the interval.
The first 15 minutes of the second half were littered with errors from both sides, as the scoreboard operator was left untroubled until minute 56.
And it was for another Barrow try. Shane Toal broke away from the centre and ran upfield before handing to Ellis Robson to finish the job to the left. Walker again successfully added the extras.
The Dons looked to try and regain a foothold in the game from that point, but they couldn't make a move stick as the visitors held strong and then furthered their advantage on the scoreboard.
On 68 minutes Finley Dutton-Roconie took on the ball and scored to the left. Walker converted again. 12-30.
The game had slipped away from the hosts, with the away side adding another try in the final minute of the 80 as Alex Bishop managed to find the space to ground to the left of the uprights despite being challenged by a number of Dons men.
The home side gave their all in search of a late consolation try during the closing stages, but it was to be in vain as the Raiders remained strong to take the two points back to Cumbria.
Dons: Holmes, Vulikijapani, Hey, Glover, Boas, Robinson, Aston, Knowles, C. Jones, Gwaze, J. Jones, Sutcliffe, Mustapha. Interchanges: Smeaton, McConnell, Pauli, Hepi.