WATCH: Raiders produce 'gritty' showing but title-chasing Barnes prevail
Raiders restored some pride on Saturday but were left frustrated that they had nothing to show for it.
Having had three long weeks to stew on their heavy defeat at National Two East leaders Dorking, Guernsey left nothing on the pitch against second-placed Barnes and gave their opponents a really tough examination, but the clinical visitors made the most of two yellow cards for the hosts, scoring 20 points during those 20 minutes in a 28-11 victory.
‘It was a hell of a contest. No doubt it was probably boring for some people to watch it, to and fro, but there’s going to be sore bodies out there for sure,’ said Raiders director of rugby Jordan Reynolds.
‘A gritty performance from our guys. Obviously Barnes are a good outfit and I thought defensively for big parts of that game we were on top of them.
Watch: All the points from Barnes' 28-11 win at Footes Lane
‘But discipline and penalty count was probably the difference in the game.’
The visitors ended the game with 13 men having also received two yellow cards, but Raiders considered that too little, too late.
‘It’s quite interesting from our point that all our cards came during the game and theirs only came in the last 10 minutes for something that we’re asking the ref for constantly for 80 minutes,’ Reynolds said.
‘They scored the majority of their points when we were down [to 14]. It was really tough to come back from that.’
Match report in Monday's Guernsey Press.
