Barrow Raiders head coach Paul Crarey has spoken about how good a job he believed Richard Marshall had done at this weekend’s opponents Halifax, after his surprise departure from them last week.

Marshall had been coach at Fax since 2015 and had led them into the Qualifiers in three of his four seasons in charge.

However, The Shay outfit have had an inconsistent first three months in the current campaign and lie in mid-table in the Betfred Championship, with six wins and losses apiece.

Marshall was allegedly told his contract would not be extended beyond this season, leading to him leaving Halifax the day before their 32-24 victory at Sheffield Eagles last Sunday, for which Simon Grix took caretaker charge.

Crarey said: “I know Richard and I feel he’s done a great job.

“He’s probably overachieved and when you throw a little bit of money at it, like they have this year, and things dip a little bit, sometimes boards react to what fans are saying, rather than seeing what a great job he’s doing and they’ve got rid of him.

“He’s a good bloke Richard, as well, and I get on pretty well with him – when I was here last year, he said to me ‘don’t you be going anywhere’ and he gave me a good talking-to, really.”

The Raiders will face a tough task in ending their 12-match run without a win, with their seemingly never-ending injury crisis still not abating, which isn’t helping them in their cause as they try to lift themselves away from third-from-bottom in the table.

They did, however, show plenty of heart in the second half of their 26-12 loss against Featherstone Rovers at Craven Park last Sunday, which at least raised spirits.

Crarey said: “There are some massive challenges for us this year to remain in this league, but we’ll keep fighting and we’re putting some real good stuff together.

“I thought in the second half against Featherstone we were outstanding.”