I THOUGHT we were going to do it on the hour mark when we managed to come from 22-6 down to 22-18 against Leigh last week.

I was listening on the radio and it was getting very exciting and I was hoping the blood-pressure tablets were working.

However, we folded in the last 20 minutes and the first double of the season was not to be, as Leigh went on to score a further four tries making the final score an unrepresentative 46-18.

A terrific effort against the Centurions at the Leigh Sports Village where 26 penalties were awarded by the referee. But Leigh made it an impressive eight wins on the bounce and have now got the Super Eights firmly in their sights to regain their Super League status.

Together with Toronto, Featherstone and Toulouse, this year could be the most competitive and the likes of Hull KR, Widnes, Huddersfield and Catalan Dragons must be fearful of these four quality Championship clubs.

Keiron Purtill, the Leigh caretaker coach, was impressed and said post-match: “Barrow came with a game plan and executed it really well as they have done all year. That’s why they’ve taken some big scalps at their place. All credit to them, they’re a team that work hard for each other and they deserve to stay up this year.”

Good to hear, and based on performances thus far, we do deserve to stay up, but it’s going to be tough. We basically have to finish above two other clubs and at the moment Swinton, Rochdale and Sheffield are our main relegation competitors.

In this first phase we have to play Rochdale at home, Swinton away and Sheffield twice more, once in the league away and also at the Blackpool Bash in three weeks’ time.

We will also play these three teams again in the second phase when the Super Eights commence and if we get something out of those games we will be in a strong position to survive.

Tomorrow is the first of two winnable home games.

Batley Bulldogs come to Craven Park on the back of a big defeat (50-12) they suffered at Featherstone Rovers last week and next week it’s the rearranged postponed game against Dewsbury Rams who have struggled to find form lately.

Batley are a tough, no-nonsense physical team and they defeated us earlier in the season with a 32-12 victory on their slope after Barrow took a 12-0 lead.

They hammered Toulouse the other week and have some formidable players, including Shaun Ainscough, Sam Smeaton, Lewis Galbraith, Jason Crookes and playmaker Dominic Brambani, In the forwards they have ex-Haven prop Tommy Holland, Alex Rowe, James Harrison, Brad Day and Dane Manning so we must be prepared for a real slug fest!

Apparently there are also a group of die-hard Batley Bulldogs supporters walking in support of Cancer Care who have set off on a four-day 105-mile walk to Barrow ahead of the clash. The group, who are members of Batley Bulldogs Independent Away Travel, left Batley yesterday and will walk via Skipton, Ingleton and Ulverston before reaching Barrow in time for Sunday’s game. So let’s make sure the club acknowledges this fabulous effort.

Let’s hope we can beat Batley and all our relegation competitors lose.

Finally, well done to the Furness Raiders for reaching the College Cup final and giving hot favourites Wakefield College a real tough game only losing towards the end with 34-16 defeat. Well done to Darren Carter and his support team and the talented young lads who will hopefully represent their home town team in the near future.

See you tomorrow!