Barrow Raiders coach not concerned that victory at Newcastle Thunder met with relief

The theory goes if a team surrenders a comfortable lead and ends up taking a narrow win, the fans’ feelings afterwards will be more one of relief rather than overriding delight due to the fear of what was almost lost.

There will be plenty of Barrow Raiders supporters who will be familiar with that feeling after seeing the side pegged back from 30-6 in front to edge Newcastle Thunder 30-28 last Saturday.

But while how a team wins rather than if it wins may matter to those on the outside, it is not something which particularly worries Raiders head coach Paul Crarey, who is happy to take a victory however it comes.

“For us, it was about getting the win and probably people were a bit disappointed, but if you reverse the halves then people would be going away with a big smile on their faces,” said Crarey.

“We’re not going to beat ourselves up when you win a game by two points against a Super Eights side. We’ll take that every week until the end of the season, as long as we get to where we need to be.”

That victory came on the road and Crarey is looking forward to returning to the comforts of home when York City Knights visit Craven Park this Sunday.

Barrow have not been beaten on their own patch since losing 44-16 to Toulouse Olympique in May last year, and the existence of home advantage was another area Moskowitz and Wertheim examined.

York were beaten 28-0 at Craven Park in the opening game of the season, along with falling to the Raiders at Bootham Crescent in the Challenge Cup, and the Raiders boss hopes they can again make the most of home advantage.

“Home and away is massive in any sport, and it’s great to be at home with our crowd,” said Crarey, who is pleased to see his side still picking up results despite the hard-fought nature of recent games.

“It sets us up nicely and it’s probably sucking a bit of juice out of us, but we’re getting the job done.”