EXTRA training for Tom Walker is seeing the Barrow Raiders prop reap the rewards after a belated start to his career at Craven Park.

The highly-rated 23-year-old made the move from Workington Town in the winter, but recurring hamstring problems meant his only pre-season outing was the match against the Barrow and District Select before Christmas.

But he has been working hard with Raiders conditioner Paul Taylor to make up for lost time and that is starting to pay dividends, with former Warrington Wolves Academy man Walker producing arguably his strongest showing in last Saturday's 20-0 win over Keighley Cougars in the Challenge Cup.

“He's a top Championship player, Tom, and before the game we talked about him doing some extras and trying to catch up,” said Barrow head coach Paul Crarey.

“He had a bad hamstring pull, then he came back a bit early, tweaked it and missed time again. We've got him back now and he's going to do some work with Paul Taylor on a Wednesday night. He's got a sprint club for these lads and doing some topping up.

“His defence is brilliant as a five and six-man in, he was brilliant at pressing from the inside – as all of our middle were – and that's key to a good defence.”

Indeed, Crarey was quick to praise the rest of the Barrow middle for their efforts in the win which saw them through to the fifth round of the Cup for the first time in seven years.

It was the second home game in a row the Raiders had kept their opponents scoreless, having done so against York City Knights in the opening Kingstone Press League One fixture of the season two weeks prior.

And Crarey was also pleased with the way the players took on board his instructions at half time, with them only having been able to unlock an equally-tight Keighley defence moments before the hooter sounded for the interval through Lewis Charnock.

“These players have got great attitudes and it's the second time this year we have nilled a side, and both sides – York and Keighley – were no mugs,” said Crarey.

“I thought Craig Lingard's side were magnificent, but we were just that little bit more clinical and had a bit more in attack than they could throw at us.

“What they have is great attitudes and they're pretty smart as well. We talked about what we wanted to improve on in the second half and they did that.

“We wanted to improve our kick-chase, we wanted better end of sets and we did that, we wanted our middle to play tighter on our pivots when we're shifting and carrying square, and we did that and it led to 14 points in the second half.”