Barrow Raiders will face opponents ‘ready to fight tooth and nail to stay in the Championship’ when they arrive at Dewsbury’s Tetley’s Stadium for tomorrow’s relegation crunch.

That was the message from Rams’ skipper Paul Sykes, who added: “We are 100 per cent committed. We have had a few bad results and it is not a nice place to be in.

“It is frustrating for the fans not seeing us perform like they know we are capable of doing.”

He was backed by coach Lee Greenwood, who said: “I know we have quality in the team. That’s not the big question. It has been the mental approach.”

Speaking after Dewsbury came within a minute of pulling off a shock victory over York City Knights – they were eventually beaten 24-21 – Greenwood said: “If we had turned up like we did on Sunday with that attitude we would probably not be in this position.”

The Raiders and Rams are locked together on nine points with the Yorkshiremen’s superior points difference keeping them out of the bottom two.

There was nothing to separate them when they met at Craven Park in February. That game ended 20-20, the only draw in the Championship this season.

Dewsbury also have a game in hand (against bottom club Rochdale Hornets), but there is little doubt that a lot hangs on the result of tomorrow’s crunch match, as victory will lift winning team clear of the relegation places.

Greenwood said: “This is still in our hands. We are in a relegation dogfight but with the right attitude we can win enough games to stay in the division.”

The half-back pairing of Sykes and Ireland captain Liam Finn is a vital partnership in the Rams’ survival struggle but they will go into the Barrow game without hooker Robbie Ward who suffered an ankle injury in the defeat by York.

Centre Andy Gabriel was given a one-match ban for ‘foul and abusive’ language to an official in the defeat at Leigh two weeks ago.