BARROW RAIDERS coach Paul Crarey wants to see the work ethic which has served his side so well this season return as he approaches a notable club record.
The much-respected 59-year-old former Raiders hooker, who has the play-offs in his sights, was hugely disappointed by the 48-12 defeat at Featherstone before bouncing back to beat Batley Bulldogs 40-16 in what was his 346th match in charge.
The most games any previous Barrow coach has had at the helm was the 349, racked up by Frank Foster (another ex-player who won a Great Britain cap as a backrower) from 1973-74 to 1982-83, three times winning promotion to the top flight (in 1975-76, 1977-78 and 1979-80).
Crarey, who was coach from October 2005 to the end of the 2007 season and returned for a second spell in September 2014, is set to reach the 350 milestone away to Oldham on Sunday, August 10.
He has guided Barrow to two promotions from League One (in 2017, when they also won the iPro Sport (League One) Cup, and 2021) and a Championship play-off place in 2022.
The loss at Featherstone was a first in three outings, and Crarey said: “For 15 minutes we matched them and at 6-0 down, got back into it and had an opportunity to take the game by the scruff of the neck.
“But we failed to make the most of a good chance and they went to the other end off a seven-tackle set and scored, and we had no answers.
“At times our body language wasn’t great, I thought people were looking round for others to do the work for them, and that’s not like us.
“To compete at this level, everyone has to be on it and helping each other out, but when we should have been standing on our toes, we went down on our heels.”
On-loan St Helens winger Tee Ritson sustained a concerning shoulder injury.