League 1 Cup first round preview: Barrow Raiders v University of Gloucestershire All Golds

Barrow coach Paul Crarey has a few injury concerns ahead of their tie against the All Golds. Skipper Liam Harrison will be missing along with Andy Litherland, Jamie Butler and Lee Haney.

However Crarey is looking forward to the game. “It’s a great concept having a Cup competition at the start of the year so everyone can find their feet,” he said. “We’ll be treating it very seriously because we want to do well in this competition.

“Gloucestershire are a bit of an unknown quantity. They had a great result at Keighley when they only lost by six points so it shows they can play. They will be a threat and it’s very difficult to go into the unknown, so we’re just going to look after ourselves and prepare as best we can.”

Lee Greenwood, the new All Golds coach is still working out who his best 17 will be.

“It’s going to take a while to work out everyone’s strengths, performance and personalities,” he said.

“The 17 that goes out this week might not be the strongest 17 going forward but we’ve put a 17 together that deserve to play through the efforts they’ve put in in training, the discipline they’ve shown and what they’ve taken on board.

“We want to go to Barrow and give a good account of ourselves, we’re certainly not going there to get rolled over. Looking at their pre-season they are probably stronger than what they were last year when they got relegated from the Championship.

“It’s tough for Northern clubs to go to Cumbria and get results so to come from the South West is certainly a long trek for us.

“We’re staying over on Saturday night but you’ve still got that travelling in your legs the day after but we’ve got nothing to lose, there’s no pressure on us.”