PAUL Crarey praised the resilience of his Barrow Raiders side as they fought back from eight points down early in the second half to overcome York City Knights 50-28 in the Challenge Cup fifth round.

Some uncharacteristic lapses from the Raiders had led to the hosts being able to exert pressure and unlock their normally water-tight defence on several occasions, with two tries from James Haynes seeing York lead 28-20 early in the second half.

But Barrow regained their composure to overcome the City Knights and book their place in the last 16 – four tries from winger Luke Cresswell being the highlight – with head coach Crarey impressed with the way his players responded.

“At half time we talked about how we were probably in first gear defensively – not offensively,” said Crarey. “They were pretty resilient and strong defensively through the middle, and were really tough.

“Second half, we came out and dropped the ball five straight on play one and two, and put ourselves under tremendous pressure. They came up with a try to go in front and we had to dig really deep. But we're made of stern stuff and to put 50 points on is outstanding against a team who have really hit their straps in the last few weeks.

“Defensively, we were a bit lapse in the first half, but in the second half, where they had five repeat sets on our line, we only crumbled on the fifth due to a bit of fatigue. But then we found our feet and took their middle on because we knew they didn't have any subs left, then we put the afterburners on and put on some good tries as the back end of the game.”

York are the first team to put more than 18 points past the Raiders so far this season, with amateurs Rochdale Mayfield the only other team to do that in the first round of the League One Cup way back in February.

Haynes also had a try contentiously ruled out for obstruction which could have made the final score very different, but Crarey was not too downhearted.

“They opened us up with two kicks at first,” said Crarey. “They got two on us where they were difficult kicks, facing the sun and the ball was bouncing around all over. They didn't actually break us down with shape.

“I thought the try they had disallowed was a try, which might have taken the game a little bit away from us, but we showed great character and we haven't been in that situation before where we've had to come from behind – and come from behind we did.

“We did it with style as well; the last try was from a set play in our own 20 and to score like that is outstanding at the back of the game where everybody is fatigued.”

Barrow now wait to see if they will draw a Super League side in the next round, but before then comes the League One Cup semi-final at home to Oxford this Sunday.

And Crarey is determined his side will not falter as they aim to reach the final at Bloomfield Road at the end of next month.

“We want to get ready for Oxford and take this magnificent crowd to the Summer Bash, and that has been our goal from week one,” said Crarey.

“We're in the hat now with the big boys of Super League and I hope it doesn't come to bite on the backside with injuries later in the year.

“They're a magnificent group of players and we probably weren't at our best in the first half, but to turn on the style in the second half, we were outstanding.”