Valiant Panthers frustrate League Leaders

Barrow Raiders 24 Blackpool Panthers 0

It was with great trepidation that Blackpool Panthers ventured into Cumbria for the second time in four days on Wednesday evening. Having suffered a 50 points mauling at Workington on Sunday, the prospect of visiting the championship favourites who were defending the only 100% playing record in the whole of rugby league was quite daunting.

The Panthers cause was not assisted by having six regular first teamers missing through work commitments and a further two John Leather and Jon Clough playing with injuries. The Panthers had in fact their only 17 available players in action.

The weather conditions throughout could best be described as dreadful with the Panthers defending into constant wind and rain in the first half. To be fair the visitors never threatened the Barrow defence throughout the first half but defence that could only be described as heroic kept the promotion hunting home side at bay for 18 minutes. At one stage the Panthers defended 30 consecutive tackles on their own line.. The Wallace bothers Michael and Andy made tackle after tackle as the 1182 crowd began to show their frustration as the expected points bonanza failed to materialise.

Something had to give and after a Panthers knock on Martin Ostler spotted a gap from the base of the scrum and dashed over. Darren Holt converted. Within two minutes Barrow scored again when stand off Liam Finch scored an unconverted try wide out to extend the lead to 10-0.. A further unconverted try by Beattie made it look like the floodgates would open. But further brave defence with Deon Duell and Kris Ratcliffe to the fore kept out the rampant home side until the 30th minute when a Blackpool defender lost the ball in the tackle and the ball was moved out to the far wing for James Nixon to score another unconverted try in the corner to give Barrow a 18-0 interval lead.

At half time with it being hard to recall Blackpool having the ball for a set of six tackles a points avalanche was expected in the second half. But during this period the Panthers mounted a series of attacks down the left hand side with Craig Tunstead and Daryl Kaye catching the eye with a number of piercing runs. The nearest the Panthers came to scoring however was a 60 yard break by Damien Munro from close to his own line and a try was only prevented with a desperate tackle by the chasing defence. The only time the Panthers defence was breached in the second half saw Andrew Beattie score wide out on the left for Holt to convert to make the final score 24-0 for Barrow to retain their 100% league record.

It is rare in any sport for a team to score zero and claim they played well but taking into consideration all the circumstances the mood on the Panthers team coach as they left the Furness Peninsula was one of satisfaction at the efforts of their depleted squad, and they now look forward to Sunday’s home game against Oldham with a full compliment of players to choose from.

Panthers team.
Leather, Tabb, Hoba, Munro, Weed, Ashe, Clough, Barton, Tunstead, Jones, Wallace (M), Reatcliffe, Duell. Subs (All used, Wallace (A), Boland, Kaye, Warriner.