PAUL Crarey praised the defensive display from his Barrow Raiders players as they defeated Cumbrian rivals Whitehaven 36-10 in yesterday’s friendly at Craven Park.

The hosts were boosted by the return of experienced players Martin Aspinwall and Ollie Wilkes to the line-up, with the latter grabbing two of the Raiders’ six tries.

However, Barrow had to withstand some intense pressure from Whitehaven during the opening five minutes and then in the second half when the visitors briefly threatened a fightback following two scores from Jesse Joe Parker.

They were able to weather the storm on both occasions and head coach Crarey was delighted with what he saw, particularly in a game where the Raiders again made a number of changes throughout.

“I just want to thank the lads for their attitude in defending because they were fantastic,” said Crarey.

“We work hard and we spend a lot of time on goal-line defence, spaces and the principles of it. Sometimes when you score early you get a little bit complacent.

“They had three sets on our goal-line and didn’t put a dent in us, so I was a bit worried we would sit down a bit and think it was going to be easy. But it was never going to be easy and we created some fantastic tries off the shape we put in.”

Some of those changes were enforced, with Shane Toal going off after suffering a suspected broken nose and concussion less than a minute into the match and Ryan Fieldhouse suffering a hamstring injury.

Andy Litherland was taken to hospital at half time after suffering a suspected broken thumb as well, although Crarey is not fretting too much about the number of injuries to have affected his squad ahead of the new season.

“If it’s not broken, it will only be a couple of weeks, but if it is then we might lose him for a while so that is a worry in pre-season, but it can happen in any game,” said Crarey.

“These friendlies, we’ve lost Fieldhouse, Max Wiper, (Karl) Ashall, maybe Livvy, Toaly has broken his nose and might have a concussion which will rule him out for next week as well, so from a squad of 28 your down to 22 before we’ve kicked a ball in anger.

“We’ve just got to look after everybody, rotate and try to keep everybody fit for the start of the season.”

Crarey was pleased with the attacking display from Barrow as well, particularly in the first half, although he felt referee Jamie Barr allowed Whitehaven to get away with not being back 10 metres at the play-the-ball and slowing the Raiders down with hands in the ruck during the second half.

Nevertheless, he was impressed with the way the players faced up to the challenge against Carl Forster’s side, who were looking to rebound from their 42-0 defeat away to Keighley Cougars the previous week.

“We knew there would be a reaction from Keighley and that Whitehaven would be really fired up for us,” said Crarey.

“They were, they threw everything but the kitchen sink at us in the first seven minutes, but we didn’t falter and came back with some great shape and commitment in defence, so we can’t ask for any more, really. We’ve just got to keep working hard and pushing on.

“If you win every friendly, it doesn’t guarantee you anything. Whitehaven have a lot to work on, we still have a lot to work on and they’re only going to get stronger.

“For us, we’re well ahead of where we were last year probably in terms of attitude, structure and fitness, so I’m really pleased with how we’ve come in the couple of years we’ve been here.”