LANCASHIRE Lynx must have left Craven Park wondering how they managed to lose a match that they dominated for long periods. After going in at half time with a nine point advantage, Lynx contrived to hand the game to Barrow, with two crucial errors in the second half

After the game Lynx coach Steve Hampson was generally pleased with his side's performance, but was highly critical of the referee. He said: "I was very pleased with the first half performance. We controlled the game well and deserved to go in at half time with a nine point advantage.

"In the second half I felt that the referee did us no favours and two of their tries were down to his errors. I shall be looking closely at the match video before deciding what action to take."

He had praise for a number of players saying: "Andy Bennett was outstanding despite still not being totally match fit, while Tommy Hodgkinson's work rate was outstanding."

Lynx looked the sharper side from the kick off and were ahead with an early drop goal from Neil Flanagan. Barrow, however, soon hit back and were ahead through two penalties from Darren Holt.

Lynx then had to withstand some pressure from the home side, but they took control of the game with a Paul Roberts penalty and two tries from Dave Ratcliffe and Neil Parsley to open a nine point advantage.

After being under severe pressure for 20 minutes, Barrow suddenly hit back five minutes from the break when Stuart Rhodes managed to touch down by the posts with Darren Holt adding the conversion.

But Lynx were not to be denied and Lee Prest managed to slip the ball out to the alert Darren Abram, who touched down under the posts with Paul Roberts adding the conversion to give Lynx a 19-10 half time advantage. In the second half Barrow put the Lynx defence under severe pressure but despite all the pressure Lynx's defence stood firm. Lynx were reduced to 12 men when Neil Flanagan was sent to the sin bin for ten minutes, but despite this setback Barrow still struggled to make the breakthrough.

Finally Lynx's defence committed a fatal error when David Jones should have dropped on the ball but he only managed to fly hack it into the hands of the grateful Ray Blanchard, who accepted the gift to touch down.

Lynx fell behind in the 63 minute when Barrow worked the ball wide to Glen Hutton who jinked around the Lynx defence to touch down in the corner. Lynx still continued to look good going forward but were unable to make spells of pressure count.

Barrow edged further ahead with a drop goal from Darren Holt and they finally sealed the game four minutes from time with a try from Stuart McGorian. Lynx battled away to the final whistle but were unable to bring themselves back into the game.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.