Last updated at 15:16, Monday, 21 June 2010

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THERE was a match at Craven Park on Saturday and Barrow Raiders were playing, just not the Barrow Raiders you might recognise.

With the first team on a weekend off, the focus switched to the reserves – a team battling adversity as much as the first team have been enjoying success in recent seasons.

This match was no exception – only 15 players were available, one of them called upon from his shopping an hour before kick-off – if anything it was harder still against the unbeaten league leaders.

While Barrow suffer from players refusing to play unless they are paid – something no other team in the league has to suffer with – Rovers are a young side who play together each week and look like a drilled unit.

Those Raiders players who did turn out on Saturday gave their all, though the problems the team suffers as a whole could be summed up by one squad player watching from the sidelines having decided the reserves weren’t for him and instead choosing to soak up the sun on the terraces.

He was not the only regular – and that word must be used loosely with many of those who seemingly turn out when they feel like it rather than when there is a game – missing.

There were those who would only turn out if they were paid a match fee and who thus were not there – it seems the pride of playing for your hometown team is not enough.

The same could not be said of the youngsters in the Rovers line-up, nor the 15 who did turn out for Barrow and put in 100 per cent in the face of adversity.

It could have been a cakewalk from the very start as Raiders knocked on the kick-off and Dwayne Straugher used Rovers’ first possession to weave through and score on 49 seconds.

Straugher set up Davi Garahan as he scored a second try on four minutes and the young Barrow side looked to be in trouble.

There were moments and bright spots for the home side – Danny White, a rugby union regular with Hawcoat Park, looks a prospect and made several strong runs through the line, while there was no lack of effort in defence or attack.

After Chris Parker added a third score for the visitors, there was a period of sustained pressure from Barrow as Chris Larkin – along with Jamie Butler, Nick Beach and James Gordon one of only four players with first team experience in the Raiders squad – ran through and slipped a pass out to irrepressible hooker Phil Cubis, who was stopped by the posts.

As they had three sets of six on the line, Will Case and Marc Dixon were both stopped short before the ball was eventually coughed up.

Straugher scored a second before half-time and Jake Perkins added another after the interval before Barrow scored the try their efforts deserved.

Dixon took the ball 10 metres out and weaved his way through to score near the posts, closing the gap to 32-6.

Garahan and Mufaro Muvududu both added scores for Rovers before the death, but Raiders never gave in and refused to be steamrollered.

Larkin and Aaron Dobek – both first-teamers for their respective sides – went to the sin bin with 14 minutes to go after a scuffle that illustrated as much Barrow’s frustration at their situation as Rovers’ at their inability to break a resolute Raiders line as often as they would have liked.

Beach tried to create opportunities late on from stand-off, his kicking game almost setting him in for a try, while Dixon was close to a second before the close.

But Rovers were the better side and looked every bit like a team who play together every week, from the training drills before kick-off to the post-match huddle.

Barrow’s coaches Gareth Jones, Dean Marwood and Graham Dale are doing an admirable job with the players they have at Barrow, but their job is not made any easier by potential recruits turning their back on the side for the sake of money.

Des Johnston’s investment in the first team has been a marvellous fillip for the club and has brought much success to Craven Park, but it seems it has also bred greed among amateurs who several years ago would not have dreamt of asking for a penny to turn out.

Now, aside from those loyal 15 who turned out on Saturday and a handful of others unavailable through injury and other commitments, it seems the honour of playing for your local professional club and the chance to impress and make it to the first team is not enough.

This was an admirable effort from Barrow and one that deserved more reward.

There are plans currently in place to develop the youth and under-18s structure at the club, with the view of brining players through to this level and the first team.

It is only to be hoped there are more amateurs out there willing to test themselves without letting pound signs become the be-all and end-all.

First published at 13:01, Monday, 21 June 2010
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk