BARROW Raiders have revealed 16 players were unavailable as their Cumbrian derby fixture against Workington Town was cancelled last weekend.

The club has been hit by Coronavirus cases, with nine staff members, seven of which players, testing positive, with a further nine players required to self-isolate.

With Paul Crarey’s side facing Hunslet this weekend, and with seven players out, the League one club are now desperately searching for players.

A statement released by the club on Monday said: “We were as disappointed as anyone that our top of the table clash with Workington had to be postponed. We have managed to stay relatively Covid-free with no cases linked directly to the club but it is clear that we had a club outbreak last week.

“RFL protocols insist that in addition to the 10 days' isolation there is a further minimum of seven days graduated return to play so that we can be sure that all players have not suffered any long-term effects from the virus. This involves gradually increasing the intensity at training.

“Those seven positive players are therefore ruled out of the Hunslet fixture. Seven absentees due to Covid is the trigger to be able to call a game off.

“However, Barrow Raiders are still committed to playing the fixture with a much-weakened squad. We owe it to our supporters and sponsors to try everything possible to fulfil the fixture. We have been busy trying to recruit or use the loan market and we have struck lucky with us hoping to announce a top signing later today and we are still actively looking at making squad improvements.

“We will have a disrupted week with training cancelled until Saturday and with a much-weakened squad we need our supporters to help cheer us to victory more than ever and we urge you to help us in this tough period by getting behind the team as you always do. Hunslet have hit some form with a great victory at Doncaster this weekend and they will be very tough opponents.

“We want to win the league in style and don’t want to hide behind the Covid card.”