Barrow Raiders boss Paul Crarey hails side after win

Raiders were convincing 58-0 winners at the South Leeds Stadium bouncing back from a 28-22 home defeat to Sheffield Eagles the previous week.

Crarey admits his squad haven’t found it easy in recent weeks, but believes his squad showed they will fight for every point.

Speaking to the club’s official YouTube channel after the win over Hunslet, he said: “It’s been a difficult few weeks.

“We were playing top sides, and this division is really tough.

“If you look at the table, I think we are up to fifth now, so all the doom and gloom merchants that said we were going to slip down into the bottom four, we’re not.

“We are fighting hard for the club with a small squad.

“It’s a difficult place to come. They pushed Fev (Featherstone Rovers) to within two (points) last week.

“They have won some games. They beat Sheffield convincingly away and Dean (Muir) is a good up and coming coach, with experienced players in the side.

“So, to come here and do they job them, like we have done with a big fat nil is absolutely outstanding.

“We came here with a purpose, a great attitude, some great try-scoring ability and executed our plays.

“Everyone one of them one to 17 was absolutely sensational, and I can’t be more proud of the team.”

Crarey was pleased with his side’s performance, although he admitted the had to stand firm as their defence was tested before the break.

He added: “We scored three tries from Shane (Toal), three tries from Tee (Ritson) (on the left edge), we scored on the other edge with Ryan Shaw.

“I think there were eight try scorers in terms of outside backs and two as middles, so we moved them around a bit on a small field.

“We wanted to play short through the middle, and have our middles playing between A and B.

“They are our points, and nobody goes out of the little box that we created on the field.

“They lost the two halves which was a big loss to them during the game, and I just thought we were clinical.

“We were at 94 per cent 10 minutes before half-time, and the last six sets we dropped down to 50 per cent, and it was an onslaught from them, but we manfully defended our line.

“They could have had a little leeway back if they had scored before half-time.

“We could have gone in 16-10 but we didn’t, we held out.

“And then in the second half I said just be patient, route one, run to burst rather than run to play, and play off the back of that.

“I just thought we were sensational.”

The Westmorland Gazette | North Lancs