Despite losing 20-10 at home to Championship leaders Featherstone, Barrow Raiders head coach Paul Crarey was upbeat about his side’s performance.
Afterwards he said: “We’ve worked really hard all week. We spoke before we went out that everybody’s got to put a shift in, and the one person that doesn’t bring anything to the table will let us down.
“We managed the game in the first half, into that wind, really well. I was so pleased to go in at 10-10, and we spoke about keeping our finger on the pulse and just grinding away.
“It was all about field position in that second half. They’ve got some quality and they can go 80m on a set and power over at will.
“I can’t fault the effort of our players. I thought the two young halves kicked the ball really well, put them under a lot of pressure and we’ve scored two really nice tries in that first period.”
Level at 10-10 at half-time, Rovers edged the second 40 to move 10 points clear at the top of the division.
First half tries from Ryan Shaw and Andrew Bulman helped the Raiders match their opponents stride-for-stride at times.
The Raiders remain second-last in the Championship table, with five of the bottom six separated by just five points.
With no action for the Raiders next week due to the Betfred Challenge Cup and 1895 Cup semi-finals, they must now pause and reflect before they take to the field again at Bradford Bulls on Monday, July 31.
It will be an important outing for the Raiders, who have just eight rounds remaining in their fight for survival.
“I think we’re only the third team in the competition all year that’s got within two tries of Featherstone at the finish, so it’s a fantastic achievement.
“It’s a loss, and nobody likes to lose, but it just shows that they’re all fighting for the cause and fighting for each other.
“The lads that have come in have been brilliant, bought into everything we’ve done and put in a stellar performance,” added the Barrow coach.
