WHERE: Mount Pleasant and Craven Park

WHEN: 1977-78

BARROW Raiders have Batley Bulldogs in their sights next as they look to continue their great start to the Championship campaign.

After upsetting the odds by drawing with Toronto and then beating Leigh Centurions, Paul Crarey's men have every right to feel confident ahead of tomorrow's trip to Yorkshire.

However, as any diehard Barrow fan will tell you, Mount Pleasant – or the Fox's Biscuits Stadium as it is now known - has bot been a happy hunting ground for the club in recent times, so the Raiders will have to buck the trend to return to South Cumbria victorious.

Crarey's troops would love to emulate the Barrow team of 40 years ago who beat Batley home and away on their way to clinching promotion to the old Division One.

Barrow triumphed 20-7 in Yorkshire in September 1977 and won the return fixture at Craven Park 34-11 in March '78, as the Shipbuilders finished runners-up to Leigh in Division Two.

The first meeting between the sides that season saw Barrow effectively seal the deal by half-time as they capitalised on the home side's mistakes.

The tone was set in only the sixth minute when Batley prop David Brooke's pass inside the Barrow 25 went straight to visitors' winger Ian Holland who raced the length of the field for a spectacular score.

The conversion and a penalty from the boot of Great Britain under-24s call-up Eddie Szymala took the score to 7-2 to Barrow, with Batley's points coming from a penalty from stand-off Colin North.

Brooke messed up again on 31 minutes when his fumble allowed Ralph McConnell to dart over, and when centre Dave Hill sent second row Paul Kavanagh in for a third try, Barrow led 15-4 at the interval.

Playing with the slope in their favour in the second half did little to aid Batley's cause as Barrow held firm in defence and dominated in the pack, with prop Harold McCourt, second row Malcolm Flynn and hooker Szymala outstanding.

Scrum half Tony Dean also had a memorable game capped by a move which allowed half-back partner Mel Mason to grab Barrow's fourth and final try on 44 minutes.

It was not until eleven minutes from time that Batley managed a consolation try from Martin Whelan, and with Tommy Thompson a reassuring presence at full-back, Barrow eased to victory.

The return fixture six months later saw Barrow produce one of their biggest wins of the season – 34-11 – as Phil Hogan helped himself to two tries in front of 2,400 fans.

Curiously, there was no report of the match in the Evening Mail due to sanctions imposed on editorial staff by the National Union of Journalists.

BATLEY: Jameson, Simpson, Trugden, Rippon, Whelan, North, Watts, Brooke, Eyre, Taylor, Fox, Jarvis (Finn) Sheehan.

BARROW: Thompson, Clegg, D Hill (O'Brien) McConnell, Holland, Mason, Dean, McCourt, Szymala, Perry, Kavanagh, Flynn, Davies.

Referee: J Mean (Leyland).

Attendance: 1,057.

YOU have to go back seventeen years for the last time a Barrow RL side won at Mount Pleasant.

Paul Charlton's side beat the Yorkshiremen 18-10 that February day in front of a crowd of 518.

The tries were scored by teenage wing sensation Ade Gardner, later to star for St Helens in Super League, plus loose forward Matt Leigh and the coach's son Gary, with Darren Holt adding the conversions.

The Barrow team that day was: 1 Chris Massey; 2 Glenn Hutton; 3 Phil Atkinson; 4 Darren Wilson; 5 Ade Gardner; 6 Brett McDermott; 7 Darren Holt; 8 Tau Liku; 9 Anthony Murray; 10 Willie Burns; 11 Geoff Luxon; 12 Mike Whitehead; 13 Matt Leigh. Subs: 14 Ian Rawlinson; 15 Damian Whitter; 16 Gary Charlton; 17 Mike Kavanagh.