BARROW Raiders head coach Paul Crarey was quick to praise his side after their quarter-final cup exit at the hands of Wakefield Trinity.

Raiders went down 30-12 against the Yorkshire outfit, who were relegated from the Super League last season.

The defeat ended Raiders’ participation in the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup, but Crarey was proud of his side for battling back after a disappointing start.

Speaking to the club’s official Facebook page, he said: “We worked all week on a fast start.

“I was talking to them before we went out about a fast start and how clinical we had to be and to make sure we didn’t give them a leg up.

“Then on play two, 10 metres from our line we don’t play the ball correctly and it allowed them to send their big number 10, who was a bit of a monster really, over for the first of his two tries.

“And then I think we gave a penalty away 20 metres from our line on play four or five, and again it allowed them to have another set on us and they scored a try from that.

“But after that we settled into the game, we worked really hard, and I can’t praise the fellas enough for hanging on in.

“Sometimes other sides have been blown away by them (Trinity) and we knuckled in.

“Then they scored a try with about six minutes to go with a freaky bounce and young Max Anderson-Moore, who I thought had a great debut scoring two tries, the ball bounced in front of him and then shot away from him and they picked up and scored.

“It was a bit of a slant on the scoreline there at 18 zip, but what we talked about at half-time was kicking the ball better and being better at the end of sets.

“We talked about putting the ball on the floor instead of in the air for Lachlan and their other winger and the full-back, who were very good under the high ball, and making it a contest.

“We did that, and we caused massive problems and I thought we kicked the ball really well in that second half.

“We went away from it a little bit when we put the ball up in the air on Lachlan’s side again and he skinned us.

“So that was just a little lesson for us that we need to put the ball on the floor, and we did that and we scored 12 points.”

Crarey thought his side might have narrowed the gap further, but another error proved costly for the visitors.

“It was 24-12 with about four minutes to go, and I thought if we can get another score, but we didn’t we left our knees into a tackle and leaned forward and committed an offence,” explained Crarey.

“And that allowed their hooker to jump in for a try with three minutes to go.

“But I’m so proud of the lads to dig in what was a difficult fixture against a full-time team, and to compete so well.

“In that second half I thought we were great. It was 12-12 in that second half.

“I know the game finished 30 points to 12, but to go toe to toe and tidy ourselves up and work really hard was an outstanding achievement.”