Full-back Luke Cresswell insists the Barrow Raiders squad have the self-belief and desire to bounce back from a difficult start to the season.
The Raiders have lost in each of the opening three rounds, and they came within minutes of picking up a first win of the season away at Swinton Lions last Sunday.
They are on their travels again this weekend, visiting a York RLFC Knights side that have also endured an indifferent start to the 2023 campaign, picking up one win from their three matches.
Despite recent results going against them, Cresswell believes the Raiders squad can re-group quickly and take some positives from their recent display at Heywood Road.
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Reflecting on Sunday’s 20-18 defeat, he said: “It was a tough one to take, given the nature of how we lost.
“Looking back, we were really good in patches and I felt like we improved upon the previous two performances.
“When we were closing the game out, we probably tried to push it when we didn’t need to.
“We fully believe that we’re going to get the win if we keep doing the little things right and improving our performance levels.”
Cresswell has also revealed what head coach Paul Crarey said to his players in the aftermath of their narrow defeat last time out.
“He told us to stay positive, keep believing and go again next week. It’s a long season, so there’s no point dwelling on these losses too much.
“We’ve got to feel the pain initially, then learn from it and get things right the week after. It’s a very intense season, so it never takes long for us to be able to put things right.
“Sport is full of peaks and troughs. Last year was a real high, and we’re going through a bit of a low at the moment.
“We know that we’ll pick up at some point, and it all comes down to belief.”
The Raiders will now go in search of a first league win of the season away at York, who they defeated 24-16 in the corresponding fixture last season.
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Cresswell knows his side need to perform if they want to pick up two competition points on their travels, but he believes the Raiders have what it takes to claim a positive result.
“It’s going to be a physical challenge,” the 27-year-old said. “They’ve got big middles, so it’ll be a test that we’ll really enjoy.
“Being the home team, there’s a lot of pressure on them to find the result, whereas we can maybe be a bit more free-flowing and do our business.
“If we work hard for each other and enjoy the occasion, there’s no reason why we can’t get a result.”
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Luke Cresswell is proudly sponsored by MSH Healthcare.