Barrow Raiders return to the scene of what was unquestionably the highlight of a disappointing 2019 this afternoon and head coach Paul Crarey believes Featherstone Rovers won’t be taking his underdogs lightly.

Crarey has managed to keep most of the team that stunned play-off chasing Rovers 38-16 at Post Office Road last June, with one of the exceptions being Australian prop Alec Susino, who is now with the opposition.

Recording the same result in this fourth round tie in the Coral Challenge Cup would be an even bigger upset for Barrow, but a strong finish in their 38-18 victory over London Skolars last week has raised the self-belief amongst their squad.

If they are going to defy the odds again, Crarey will need a repeat of some of the impressive stats they recorded against the Skolars in tough conditions, where they only committed eight handling errors, conceded just five penalties and had an 80 per cent completion rate.

Crarey said: “They took us for granted last year and I don’t think they’ll do that again.

“We played 27 Championship games last year and the majority of that team are still here, so they will have memories of that.

“They’ve got a good team this year - they’ve got probably one of our best players from last season, Alec Susino, who’s a great lead, and they’ve got Dean Parata there as well.

“They’ve got a bit of money and they’ve got aspirations - like a lot of the top-end Championship teams - of getting into the Super League and they’ll want to progress in this because of the revenue.

“They’ll be looking for a Super League team down the line to bring the coffers into the club and fund everything, but it’s our cup final, really.

“We’ll get a good following, our fans have been brilliant in coming out in all weathers to come and watch us and we’re going to try and go there and do the best we can and try and play some football against them.”

The wet weather this week once again forced Crarey to tailor his team’s training schedule, with them having only a limited time out on the Craven Park pitch to protect the surface, but they have done plenty of endurance work.

There weren’t too many casualties from the win over the Skolars, although Raiders are erring on the side of caution with prop Lee Jewitt, who dislocated a shoulder before it was popped straight back in, while Jono Smith is unavailable.

With captain Jarrad Stack and Nathan Mossop, as well as half-back Jake Carter, still out, there will be a few changes amongst the forwards.

Crarey said: “Jake is getting a lot better now, he’s starting light weights so we need to start getting into some contact.

“Lee will be alright for Doncaster. The physios were telling me he’d probably be alright for this week with painkillers, but we don’t want to risk it.

“It’s going to be horrendous conditions, so it’s going to be a forward battle again and we don’t want to put any pressure on any injuries, so that will give a chance for one of the new fellas, probably Carl McBain.

“It’s his type of game and he’ll relish a tough battle up front, so we’ll probably give Carl a run, and Connor Terrill as well, and see how they go. Bradd Crellin was ill last week, so it depends how he pulls up at training.”