OLLIE Wilkes is in line for an early return to action when Barrow Raiders face North Wales Crusaders in a rematch of the League One Cup final tomorrow.

Wilkes skippered the Raiders to glory against the Welsh side in Blackpool just under three weeks ago, but has not featured since then after suffering a calf muscle injury.

It was expected the 37-year-old would be out for at least a month, but he has been named in the 19-man squad for the visit of the Crusaders in Kingstone Press League One tomorrow after making rapid progress in his recovery.

“The lad deserves credit and he's done everything the physios have asked,” said Barrow head coach Paul Crarey. “He's been down doing work and he's itching to play, so we've left it to the physios.

“He's everything everyone else has done and more, he's done his own extra work and he's a true professional in that respect. We've put him in the 19-man squad and if he gets the green light then he'll play.”

Crarey is waiting on the fitness of a number of players ahead of the encounter with North Wales at Craven Park, although Declan Hulme is expected to feature despite suffering some swelling on his elbow after last Sunday's 24-24 draw away to Doncaster.

Shane Toal and Tom Loxam are available again too, Dan Abram takes over the interchange hooker role from Karl Ashall and another player returning to the side is Brad Brennan after impressing with the work done on improving his fitness.

However, Brett Carter is out after experiencing numbness following a knock to the head against Doncaster and Andy Litherland's ongoing back injury now looks as if it will keep him out for up to five months, while there could still be changes to the 19-man squad depending on physio reports.

“Some of them are having tests and we've put a squad in, but we might have to pull some of them out depending on how they are today,” said Crarey. “But like I've said to the lads, over the next four or five weeks are are going to rotate and try to look after ourselves heading into the Eights.

“Brad Brennan comes into the side; he's fresh and we've told him to work hard on his conditioning and his fitness – that's probably the only thing keeping him out of the side.

“The fans see him going forward, but we see him defending and he can do that, so over the last month he's been working really hard and hopefully when North Wales come to town he can show what he can do.”

Crarey is pleased to have both Wilkes and Brennan back to bolster the pack for a game where he is looking for the forward to assert their authority on their opponents and nullify the dangers up front which caused Barrow problems in the cup final.

“We'll go with a big pack against these and freshen up a little bit,” said Crarey. “Ollie will be fresh, Brad will be fresh, Dan Abram is a great dummy-half runner and did really well in the final against them, so we're just going big to play it through the middle and go quickly.

“This week is about bringing fresh people in and giving us a lift. With 25 minutes to go in the second half against Doncaster we had no subs left and we probably played 10 minutes more than that, so we're looking to get fresh bodies for North Wales, which will be a tough test.”