BARROW RAIDERS boss Paul Crarey hailed the hard work in training which he felt was behind the 26-10 play-off win over Sheffield which earned his side a second crack at Doncaster on Sunday.
With halfback Ryan Johnston calling the shots, the Cumbrians came out on top in their elimination final at the Speed Competitions Stadium, where three second-half tries helped down the Eagles.
It followed a 72-0 humbling at Doncaster in a qualifying semi-final in stage one and set up a South Yorkshire repeat in stage three, this time a ‘sudden-death’ clash.
“We couldn’t really put our finger on what happened at Doncaster the first time,” said Crarey, whose team had won 36-12 there in a league clash in May and went on to finish fourth in the table.
“But we knew we needed a strong response, and I take my hat off the lads, because they worked really hard in the build-up to the Sheffield game.
“We did a tough contact session with a lot of two-against-one and one-against-one, and our goal-line defence was better.
“We still got caught out a couple of times, but we managed to show some grit to hit back, and that was really pleasing.”
Try-scoring forward Greg Richards sustained a calf injury while fullback Luke Cresswell took a knock but stayed on.
“It was his decision, and we were pleased, because we needed someone to handle those high kicks,” added Crarey.
“It typified the attitude of the team as a whole, and while we were fatigued, we got through to gat another game.”
Australian secondrow Ryan King has been named club, players’ and supporters’ player of the year after his second season in Barrow colours following his move from Whitehaven.