iPro Sport Cup second round preview: Barrow Raiders v Oldham

Barrow come into this second round tie full of confidence following their 38-22 victory over Keighley in the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup.

Coach Paul Crarey said: “I thought we were very good last week. We had the highest completion rates we’d had all year and I thought our shape came together.

“Apart from the stoppage for the injury to Lee Haney, which disrupted the game, I thought it was a good contest from both sides. We kicked on from that point really, the lads pulled together and it gave us a little bit of motivation to finish the game off in style.

“Oldham will be another tough game for us. They are a well-structured, well-coached team, who are very aggressive and very fit. It’s a challenge for us at this stage, the teams that are left in it are all strong. It’s a great concept and we really want to do well in it.

“They are a quality team, we’ve got to be at our best to get a result but we’ve got a great crowd at Barrow who are getting behind us at the moment and they will need to at the weekend.”

Scott Naylor’s Oldham side had another convincing win over Coventry Bears for the second successive week.

“I don’t think it’s easy playing the same team two weeks running but they approached it in a really professional way,” he said.

“Sometimes when you beat a team by close to 40 points, it’s more mental than anything else to turn up the week after and do it again, so to get a very similar score line was good. The conditions weren’t great but we played some decent stuff.

“I suppose in our division Barrow are going to be one of the biggest challenges. We all know Cumbria is a tough place, so we’re going to have to be at our absolute best to win the game.

“They are obviously playing well and scoring lots of points so we’re going to have to put both parts of the game together really well.”