The only Championship side without a win so far, Barrow Raiders are intent on breaking their duck tomorrow.
Head coach Paul Crarey says his players are determined to keep raising their game.
Although performances have improved in their last two fixtures, Crarey still wants to see more from his squad as they look to get off the mark for 2023.
He says: “We’ve got a good set of lads and we did an honest review on the little efforts that we’re not doing that will make a big difference.
“It’s about small margins – there were a couple of chances that we didn’t take [against York]. When you’re down, you don’t get the rub of the green, but it was a big effort from us.
“We had Danny Langtree going off within the first minute, and James Greenwood who went off after 15 minutes, so we only had one rotation for the rest of the game with young Ellis Archer on the bench making his debut.
“It was difficult, but after the first five minutes, I thought that we did extremely well to stay with them.”
Newcastle Thunder, Sunday’s opponents, have also struggled in the early weeks of the season, winning just one of their four matches. They now have former Workington Town coach Chris Thorman in charge.
Crarey believes both sides will see the fixture as a chance to develop a foundation to build from, and has also issued a rallying cry to the Raiders supporters thinking of attending.
“We go again this weekend against Newcastle, who have had an equally tough start,” he added.
“We’ve both played some of the top teams, which can make the situation and league table look lopsided, so they’ll see us as a target and we’ll see them as a target.
“It should be a good game, so come down and support us, stay focused, hold your nerve and hopefully we can get our first win.”
