Barrow Raiders may have to braced for more bad news with injuries after back row Dan Toal had to be helped from the field during last Sunday’s defeat against Widnes Vikings.

Toal hurt his ankle in trying to prevent Danny Craven’s try in the early stages of the second half at the Halton Stadium and played no further part as the Raiders’ recent revival was halted by a 38-14 loss.

Barrow had hoped their chronic injury crisis was finally easing, with several key names making their return over the last few weeks, but in the last two games they have started picking up knocks again.

Although the severity of Toal’s injury hasn’t yet been made clear, he’ll also certainly miss Sunday’s home game against Halifax, while several other players may have to be patched up in the days ahead.

Head coach Paul Crarey said: “I think Danny Toal’s was quite serious - it looked as though he rolled his ankle.

“That could mean his ligaments have gone, but we don’t know that yet. Sometimes it can be fixed quite quickly by getting some ice on it and it settles down.

“Danny Morrow came off with a head injury, Jordan Walne with a neck injury and with Stargroth Amean we had to leave him out there even though he had a pull in his thigh.

“We were running out of troops towards the back end of the game, but we dug in and I thought Luke [Cresswell] came on and did a good stint.

“Jake Carter did well in his first game - he probably didn’t realise just how fast it was going to be in stepping up from League One, but he kicked us around.”

One important name Barrow had missing at Widnes was Jarrad Stack, who wasn’t injured but had to sit the game out because of work commitments.

The Raiders missed his tenacious tackling, his powerful running and his ability under the high ball in Cheshire and Crarey can’t wait to have him back in the fold.

He said: “We’re picking up injuries again and we missed Jarrad Stack massively - he’s a massive player for us on this right-hand side it showed a little bit.

“But I’m proud of my fellas - they’ve had a real tough couple of weeks now and we’ve got a couple of wins that have given us a bit of confidence.

“We’ve got a real tough game next week against Halifax and Featherstone and Leigh away before Toulouse rock up.

“We’ve got to hold on to our hats, get through this period and then we’re playing the teams around us again.

“It’s so, so difficult a division to play in because you never get comfortable and bringing players in is very difficult.”