PAUL Crarey is wary of the threat posed by Oxford as Barrow Raiders bid to avoid being on the wrong end of an upset in tomorrow's League One Cup semi-final (kick-off 2pm).

Tim Rumford's side edged out Coventry Bears and London Skolars by two points in each of their previous cup matches to reach this stage, and have also shown their capability by beating York City Knights 35-28 in Kingstone Press League One recently.

Three-quarter Josh Atkinson is the competition's top try-scorer as well, with five to his name so far, and Raiders head coach Crarey knows his team's 10-match unbeaten start to the year will count for nothing as they bid to reach the final in Blackpool.

“The stakes are really high this week and Oxford are in the semi-finals for a reason,” said Crarey. “If you look at all of the clubs in this competition like Workington, Whitehaven, Doncaster, Keighley, Hunslet – they're all out.

“There's a reason for that; they haven't been good enough on the day and they might have been complacent, and Oxford beat York so that's how dangerous they are.

“They've got dual-registration (with Castleford Tigers), and they've got an abundance of good players you see in Super League every week and the fringe players, they might send five of them down.

“The test for us is to focus and it will have done us the world of good to be in this situation and come out on top, especially away from home.”

Former Castleford Tigers academy coach Rumford, who also had spells playing for York and Hunslet, is delighted to see his team involved in the last four and has been impressed with what his relatively inexperienced players have produced.

“This is a great opportunity for our young team,” said Rumford. “It’s a new experience for just about all of our squad to be playing in a game so deep into the competition.

“We have a squad made up of ex-academy players that are 19 or 20 and top-level players from the amateur game, so it’s new territory for most of them and it’s exciting.”

Bradd Crellin is the only player definitely ruled out for Barrow tomorrow as he continues to recover from a knee injury picked up in the win over Newcastle Thunder on Good Friday.

Meanwhile, Ryan Fieldhouse came through a contact session in training on Thursday night unscathed despite suffering a rib injury in last Sunday's 50-28 win over York which left him needing oxygen on the bench.

It is therefore set to be much the same squad which chalked up that win to progress in the Challenge Cup involved tomorrow as the Raiders look to achieve their pre-season target of getting to the League One Cup final at Bloomfield Road on Saturday, May 27.

“One of our targets for the season when we set out in February was to reach Summer Bash and we’re just one game away from it now,” said Crarey.

“I’ve done commentary for BBC Radio Cumbria Sport at the Summer Bash for the last couple of years and it’s an unbelievable event.

“You get fans from across the spectrum and with teams like Hull KR being there this year, you get a massive influx of fans.

“It’s a great event and well-run and there’s great entertainment for everybody. To give the Barrow fans the chance to go and sample the atmosphere would be fantastic.”