THE season is going well, but Barrow Raiders must be on top form to make sure their results don't slip, according to Chairman Steve Neale.

Speaking ahead of a brief respite in the season, Neale said that he and Head Coach Paul Crarey were using the opportunity of an empty fixture week to give the players some recovery time.

He said: "We are having a very light week given that we have had such an intense first half of the season. Our successful cup run and our postponed game at Bradford means we haven’t had chance to have any recovery time.

"We have given the players the rest of the week off to recover before we have those two quick-fire games next week versus Leigh and Widnes. We will only train once on Tuesday in an attempt to keep the squad fresh."

Neale described the season so far as 'pleasing' but was sure to mention that his team would have to avoid complacency in the 'relentless' Championship.

He said: "We have to be happy with how we have performed. We are sat in the play-off spots and pleasingly have both learnt to win on the road and to come out on the right side of some close tussles. The only point we feel we have let slip was probably at home to London where a lot of chances went begging."

Neale said that the club's initial aim was to avoid relegation but they were quietly confident they could do better than that.

Now, he says: "The big challenge will be to try to repeat our first half of the season when we go through the repeat fixtures. The Championship is relentless and you have to be at the top of your game to beat any of the sides."