Last updated at 13:01, Monday, 04 May 2009

REAL TEAM EFFORT: Ned Catic (left), Liam Harrison (centre) and Liam Finch enjoy the night as Barrow thrash Widnes on Friday BILL WATKINSON

TO be brutally honest our performance against Widnes Vikings on Friday evening was not good.

No, dear reader, it was far better than that – awesome probably gives a better indication of the display the Barrow Raiders put on.

We were stronger, fitter and totally outplayed the full-timers of Widnes.

Such was our dominance that some of the home spectators were leaving halfway through the second half.

I heard one fan comment that if we could do that with an outfit which is principally part-time, what could we do if we were full-time like the Vikings players?

Once again it was the defensive effort that saw us take a grip on the game.

The whole team tackled with a determination and ferocity which denied Widnes a foothold in the contest, with our pack in particular putting in a tremendous bone-shuddering display.

This determination to prevent the opposition crossing the whitewash was typified by Zeb Luisi, who on three occasions put in tackles on or over the try-line when a Vikings score looked on the cards.

Gary Broadbent showed his experience and was in position to take virtually every kick that Widnes launched into our half of the field as well as bravely taking the ball forward to gain valuable yards for his team.

The only disappointment was that they crossed for a consolation try late on when the ball was knocked on three times in the build-up by the try scorer.

Even the Widnes supporters agreed with that view and by rights we should have had the nil against the Vikings name on the scoreboard which our defence had earned.

The Widnes chief executive said that he couldn’t spot a weak link in our team and on that performance I can only agree with him.

The supporters can sit back and bask in the recollections of such a game, but for Clarky and the team there is no such luxury as they must look forward to the next contest and train hard to be able to maintain performance levels of that quality.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – the team has showed us what they are capable of, their challenge is in continuing to perform to such standards.

Two coaches and a large number of cars had carried Barrow fans to the game.

The 200 or 300 Raiders supporters made more noise in the Stobart Stadium than a couple of thousand normally do at Craven Park. They drowned the efforts of the Widnes fans, who in truth didn’t have a lot to shout about. I think for the next home game we’ll hire some coaches and drive the fans round for a couple of hours prior to the game to see if we can generate the same noise on our own patch.

Mind you, I think the couple of hours in the bar beforehand might also have had something to do with it!

A big thanks go to Martin, who helped us out with Willie Two Hornes and played his part in getting the Barrow fans going.

It was his first outing and he put a lot of effort into the role. I know that there are others who have expressed an interest in helping out with Willie so please make yourselves known to me and we’ll share the workload about.

Chants of “Barrow, Barrow” might not be the most complicated of supporters’ songs, but when they ring round the stadium like they did that evening they’ll do for me and I know the team gets a lift from such support.

In fact, His Imperial Desiness and I were that impressed that we felt obliged to go across at full-time and give them a clap for the part they had played in lifting the guys out on the field.

The euphoria surrounding the trip to the side of the Mersey had me forgetting that we have not conversed since the Batley game.

Although not as intense as the Vikings match, it was a super display in its own right.

We scored 52 unanswered points as we put the Bulldogs to the sword. In my opinion it illustrated how good we were rather than it being a case of Batley being a poor team.

They had played Widnes the week previous and had been told by the Vikings staff to expect a tough game at Barrow. They didn’t realise just how tough that would be.

We threw the ball about, which on occasions this season we have failed to do. The result was a hat-trick of tries for both Chris Larkin and James Nixon, two of our local lads, out on the wings.

We played some scintillating rugby, including an 80-metre effort from Nixon following a superb offload by Martin Ostler in his 20-metre area, which deserved a better crowd than the 1,700 that turned up.

Have a look at some of the action on the Evening Mail website, I am sure it will whet your appetite for when we next play at home.

DAVE SEAR

VICE-CHAIRMAN

BARROW RAIDERS

First published at 11:39, Monday, 04 May 2009
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk