IT was a typical opening run out for Barrow Raiders as they overcame a spirited Keighley Cougars 46-20 in the first pre-season encounter of the year.

It was great to be back amongst the faithful at a freezing cold Craven Park; can’t the club install some patio heaters in the roof so as we can watch in some comfort?

A pint of ice-cold lager just didn’t look right in some supporters' hands, but there wasn’t much option as a major electrical fault put a hot coffee out of bounds.

The attendance of almost 800 wasn’t bad for a friendly and there was even a handful of supporters from Keighley, who must have felt pretty positive at the end of the game for the season ahead in League One, with a pretty decent performance and a closer contest than the result suggests.

Barrow did okay and we all left realizing that there is still plenty of room for improvement, particularly now that we have been promoted to the Championship and will be playing much better teams than Keighley starting in a fortnight’s time.

My man of the match, Luke Cresswell, had a solid game scoring two tries, creating plenty of breaks and catching the bombs with confidence.

Paul Crarey felt the same, but was concerned with the manner the Cougars were able to score their four tries.

Meanwhile, Keighley coach Craig Lingard was left frustrated by his side’s line defence as they shipped eight tries as they fell to a fifth loss in 12 months at Craven Park.

In mitigation, Keighley were missing captain Josh Tonks, and half-back pair Matty Beharrell and Benn Hardcastle, who would have made a big difference I’m sure.

We had a few missing also, with new captain Martin Aspinwall, Ryan Fieldhouse, Karl Ashall and Lewis Charnock all getting over illness and knocks, and new Aussie signing Dean Parata still returning from his trip abroad. Hopefully, they will all be available for tomorrow’s annual clash with relegated Oldham Roughyeds.

Last year’s friendly ended all square and this time Oldham hope to have stalwart Phil Joy back in the squad. A dislocated shoulder ruined his 2017 season, restricting him to only four games.

He is likely to figure in a squad of 20 or 21 which will include the return of ex-Raiders favourite Craig Briscoe.

Second-row Briscoe missed only two games all season for Barrow in 2015 and played it tough, and was then transferred to the newly-promoted Roughyeds for their first season back at Championship level.

He played against Barrow in a pre-season friendly where early in the game he suffered a serious knee injury which restricted him to seven games in two seasons at Oldham, and none in 2017, after major surgery.

He played in the recent Law Cup win at Rochdale Hornets though, so let’s hope that Craig has now turned the corner.

Elsewhere, Batley Bulldogs beat a youthful Wakefield Trinity 24-12 and League One Bradford Bulls beat our Summer Bash opponents Sheffield Eagles, who have entered a dual-registration agreement with St Helens, 12-6.

See you tomorrow and don’t forget your thermals.