WE did it. At last, we have escaped League One and gained promotion to the Championship.

Three years of hard work by all down at Craven Park has finally paid off and, in particular, congratulations to local head coach Paul Crarey, who has put a tremendous amount of time and effort into ‘Project Raiders’.

Paul deserves the accolades and at least now he has the achievement of promotion on his CV, but as he stated in the post- match interview the real hard work starts here – so, no pressure!

It was a fabulous occasion with a special atmosphere created from both sets of passionate supporters. 3,128 is an impressive attendance for a League One fixture, but as someone said to me on the way out of Craven Park: “Let’s hope the day-trippers stay with us next season.”

The game itself was a tough, physical encounter and it could have gone either way. It was not a pleasant experience and the close scoreline throughout ensured the nerves were jangling until the very end. The only light relief was the streaker running faster than Shane Toal with the stewards in his wake!

The final hooter was like a massive relief of stress and was quite emotional for us Popular Siders who have watched Barrow continually improve over the last three years, and who realised just how important the 10-6 victory was.

Being used to disappointment, it was a welcome change to overcome the threat of Whitehaven, who deserve great credit for their performance.

On reflection, just consider the consequences of defeat. Not only would I have been even grumpier throughout the dark depressive winter months than normal, but imagine another season in an even more competitive League One with Bradford Bulls and Oldham getting relegated, and Workington Town, York City Knights, Keighley Cougars, Doncaster, Hunslet and Newcastle Thunder on the up.

The importance of the victory last week will sink in eventually and instead of doom and gloom, we have the challenge of Championship rugby. Leigh, Toronto Wolfpack, Toulouse Olympique, London Broncos, Featherstone Rovers, Halifax, Batley Bulldogs, Sheffield Eagles, Dewsbury Rams, Swinton Lions and Rochdale Hornets will all be visiting Craven Park next season.

Each team will play 23 games in the regular season, home and away against the other 11 clubs season and there is the televised Summer Bash in Blackpool to look forward to over the May Bank Holiday as well. Who will be our derby rivals and opponents on that day?

So, exciting times ahead and I think we are better prepared for success this time than on previous occasions. We have a very good squad who all have the ability to play at Championship level, but I’m sure we all realise that half a dozen experienced class acts will enhance our chances of real success.

Let’s not put all this effort into promotion and not go for it. Provide Paul with the budget to give us that competitive edge and then develop a business plan to fund the budget. The plan must include more business sponsorship, growing the lottery/club 500 and creating a total match day experience to attract new support.

It’s a simple equation; success on the pitch means more revenue and there is significant prize money at stake, which also must be an objective.

We have to take a calculated risk, because the alternative will be a greater fall than the impact of our last relegation experience losing 400 fans off the average over the past three seasons.

Even so, we still have better attendances than Swinton, Rochdale, Dewsbury, London, Sheffield and Batley – so there is no rational reason why they should have better squads than us based on finance alone, unless they have a ‘Secret Santa’ in the background.

Well done to everyone associated with the club, take a well-earned October rest and come back November for pre-season training ready for the Championship challenge starting on the first weekend of February 2018.

See you in November.