Beverley’s Unbeaten Run Comes To An End in Cumbria

The blue and golds came up against a determined Cumbrian outfit and had to admit that they were second best on the day.

Barrow Island, who head a cluster of clubs looking to secure the second automatic promotion spot to NCL Division 2 and had clearly done their homework for this top of the table clash.

Scott Taylor went into this match lacking Jack and Bobby Howdle, Alex and Peter Starling, Lewis Poskitt, Tom Moor and Ben Atkin forcing a few recalls.

Ben Naylor returned from his occupation in the oil industry and Ryan Watkin and Sam Coleman returned on leave from the Army.

Commenting at the end, Taylor said;

“We will move on from this I can’t fault our efforts, now let’s see if we can go unbeaten at home this season.”

Barrow enjoyed superior territory in the early minutes of the clash with the penalty count in their favour. Their strong pack ate up the yards and a Jake Carter penalty gave them the lead on 5 minutes.

In the 22nd minute their winger Tez Nueto crossed in the corner with the conversion added to stretch their lead to 8-0.

Beverley sparked to life and a Bobby Downs long ball put Josh Poskitt over in the corner for a score which was not improved. Gaining in confidence, a break from deep by Ben Naylor then set up good field position.

Trevor Penrose then almost put Sam Coleman over. Use of the knee in the tackle on Billy Riby then saw a Barrow player sin-binned before another incident saw Trevor Penrose and another Barrow player leave the field for ten minutes. A resulting penalty was then stroked over by Josh Poskitt to reduce the arrears to 8-6.

Beverley were a little casual at the restart kick which was caught by Dan White to score in the corner. The conversion was missed but the hosts were 12-6 up as the whistle sounded for the break.

In the second half, Beverley rarely troubled the opposition in attack apart from a Ben Naylor break early in the half. Barrow Island added four second half tries courtesy of Tez Nueto, Ben Garner (2) and Joe Spencely.

Jake Carter added two conversions and a drop-goal. Their strong pack and well drilled back division dominated their opponents for whom Ryan Watkin and Ben Naylor looked to be the most dangerous going forward.

Beverley will now not be in action until Friday August 24th when they entertain the British Army with the next league action being on September 1st when they host Gateshead Storm.

Final Score : Barrow Island 33 Beverley ARLC 6 | Reported By Nick Robinson