LUKE Cresswell has been catching the eye with his work in training ahead of his return to the Barrow Raiders starting line-up against York City Knights this Sunday.

The former Barrow Island amateur, who has scored 16 tries in 18 appearances during his first full season of professional rugby league, has not featured since the 28-4 win over North Wales Crusaders in June after suffering a broken hand.

But Cresswell has completed his recovery and is set to line up at full-back at York in the absence of the unavailable Ryan Fieldhouse, and Barrow head coach Paul Crarey has been impressed with what he has seen from him in the build-up.

“Luke has trained the house down,” said Crarey. “He has got physically bigger, he's done all of the football stuff with us, and he looked very good at training on Thursday night and very sharp.

"We spoke to Ryan, and he came to me and said 'Luke is ready' – and we know he is. We've got an option as well with Brett Carter, which gives us a good option coming out on yardage.

"He's been outstanding in these games where he has had a run. Competition for places has been good for us all year and we haven't gone outside this group."

Crarey is proud of the fact the Raiders have avoided going into the loan market or utilising the controversial dual-registration system to boost the squad during the season.

Conversely, opposite number James Ford has been able to utilise the market to add some useful reinforcements to his City Knights squad from higher levels.

Two of those, Sheffield Eagles forward Jordan Cox and Hull FC prop Ross Osborne, made a big impact on their respective bows for York during their 28-18 victory against Workington Town last Sunday.

Crarey admits to being somewhat in the dark about the latest additions to York's squad, although he knows any players who have come in from the Championship or Super League will pose a danger.

And he expects the team put out by Ford to be a much different proposition in the Kingstone Press League One Super Eights to the ones Barrow have already faced in both League One and the Challenge Cup earlier in the season.

"Their team has changed since the start of the year whereas ours has stayed the same, and that's the big thing, really," said Crarey.

"Everybody watches us week in, week out, looks at our players, analyses and our team and our traits remain the same because we know what each individual does.

"Defences are getting tighter against us and York have brought in players we don't really know – I think they have brought in four or five from a Super League environment, so that is the danger."