EFFICIENCY is the key aspect Paul Crarey is looking for from Barrow Raiders when they make the trip to Leigh Centurions in the Betfred Championship this Sunday.

The Raiders head coach was encouraged by a lot of what he saw from his team in last Sunday’s Coral Challenge Cup tie at home to York City Knights, despite it ultimately ending in a 32-16 defeat.

Crarey knows it will be tough for his injury-ravaged team to add to their sole Championship win so far this season when they face Leigh, but he is eager for them to build on the improvements shown against York whatever the result.

“It’s going to be the case to go there to build some confidence, whether we win, lose or draw,” said Crarey. “They put a side together late, but they’ve got some quality in there.

“Hopefully we’ve just had a bad run of luck in terms of injuries, but we’re looking forward to going there.

“It’s a good, fast track at Leigh, so if we can open up a little bit and go without fear, just go and play and pull out some good plays at the back end of sets.

“We need to make sure all parts of our game are efficient, including the back end of sets.”

Last-tackle decision-making has been one area the Raiders have struggled to find consistency in at times this season, with Crarey pointing to some of their decisions in the home cup defeat to York as examples of that.

Barrow did show what they can do when everything clicks by clawing back to within four points of the City Knights early in the second half, but despite dominating the third quarter they were unable to penetrate the visitors’ defence again.

Crarey put that down to picking the wrong option at the end of sets and knows confidence is a factor for his side as well.

“When the second half came, I thought we’d win the game at 20-16,” said Crarey. “We’ve just got to finish sets well, put the ball on the floor to feet and drop it on the goal-line so they’ve got to deal with it.

“We’re going high when we could be going low and not finding a pass when we’ve got great shape on the left edge.

“If we pick a pass and we score, it’s as simple as that, but I can’t throw the passes or make those decisions for them.

“I thought they were outstanding in the second half, but we lose confidence on one play or decision and we’ve spoken about that.”