Barrow Raiders head coach Paul Crarey has praised his team’s performance as they claimed a crucial 32-14 win over Swinton Lions in the Betfred Championship.

In a season-defining game between the two relegation rivals, the Raiders took control of the encounter from the beginning, running in six tries in front of a crowd of over 2,000 at the Matt Johnson Prestige Stadium.

Braces from Luke Broadbent and Keanan Brand, with the latter securing his first try for the Raiders, plus finishes from Andrew Bulman and Ryan Shaw capped off a brilliant performance, especially given the magnitude of the task at hand.

“The win puts us in the box seat,” Crarey said after the match.

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“We’ve got to go to Newcastle next week and there are no pushovers there, we’ve got to be on it. It’s a short turnaround there so we’ll assess the injury situation.

“But that win was massive – it puts us up to tenth, above Keighley, Whitehaven and Swinton and it puts all the pressure on them to win now and we’ve just got to do our job.

“I’ve got to take my hat off to these players, for the past six weeks they’ve been magnificent across the board.

“Today was a very professional performance from minute one to minute 80.

“We had our little moments, but we rode the storm and we scored some fantastic tries and defended brilliantly.”

Sunday’s victory means that the Raiders can seal their survival in the Betfred Championship with a victory at Newcastle Thunder next Saturday, but Crarey warns that his players will need to rise to the occasion against a side with nothing to lose.

“We’ve had the most horrific season in terms of injuries – nobody in this division has done what we’ve done in terms of playing players out of position and got the results that we’ve done, I’m so proud of the lads.

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“We’re probably 90% there with one foot in the Championship but I’d like two in.

“Next week’s a game where we’ve got to rock up and be professional because there’s no pressure on Newcastle who are already relegated.

“They’ll come with a passion and they’ll want to take our scalp which they have done already with Swinton twice and Whitehaven, so it’s very much a team that can play and they will be under no pressure whatsoever.”

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