MARTIN Aspinwall is confident that Barrow Raiders will soon be back on track to hit their target of a push for promotion into the Kingstone Press Championship.

The 34-year-old former Wigan and Huddersfield utility man, recruited by coach Paul Crarey to add the voice of experience to his side, shook off the disappointment of the first defeat of the season at Doncaster to take a positive look ahead.

“Being a senior player it is up to me and a few others to help the young players by leading from the front,” he said.

The 21-18 defeat at the Keepmoat when playing against a Dons side down to 12 men for almost an hour was hard to take, but Aspinwall was honest enough to admit: “We are not going to beat anybody if we keep making so many mistakes.

“The biggest problem was ball retention and one of the positive things was that we only lost by three points.

“When we click like we did against Hunslet (in a 40-6 victory last month), we will score a lot of points and defensively we are fine. But if we keep making mistakes, it means a lot of defending and, although we are fitter than most teams, we are letting teams off the hook.

“We are all disappointed by Sunday’s defeat, but we have to stop giving the ball away cheaply.

“We are still getting to know each other and the two lads who have come in from North Wales (Karl Ashall and Jamie Dallimore) are still learning how we play. They had no pre-season run-outs with us so it takes time.”

Aspinwall, who is enjoying life in Cumbria and settling into his job with accountancy firm RF Miller, added: “I am happy the way things are going, though I am sure I have got a bit more in the locker to give.

“The coaching staff and the players are great and we are really enjoying living here.

“As far as the new job is concerned, I am getting used to it and still learning, but things are really going well.”

Looking ahead, Aspinwall sees the visit of Rochdale on Sunday as the ideal opportunity to wipe out the memory of the Doncaster defeat.

“It is going to be tough, but it is a match we should be looking to win, especially at home if we are hoping to be up there with the others challenging for promotion,” he said.

“Rochdale are going well and will be thinking the same.

“Their draw with Toulouse shows that they are a good team, as we know from when we played them a few weeks ago (in a 14-4 iPro Sport Cup defeat), but if we can replicate the way we played against Hunslet, we will be fine.

“It was nothing fancy, everything was methodical, we handled well, kicked well and we are fitter than most teams so eventually we will wear them down.

“The next home games against Rochdale, York and Toulouse – with a trip to South Wales sandwiched in between – are a tough run, but will have a big bearing on how we finish.

“We will be looking for wins from those three home games to consolidate our position.”