Crarey: Cup win could start “something big”

Barrow Raiders’ boss Paul Crarey has urged fans to get behind the club’s bid to secure its first silverware in over 30 years.

The Raiders’ 64-14 victory over Oxford on Sunday secured a place in the final of the League 1 Cup against North Wales Crusaders.

Victory at Blackpool would be the first time Barrow have won a cup competition since claiming the old Lancashire Cup in 1983 and Crarey believes his team can make history, despite facing a trip to Canada the weekend before the final.

“It’s nice to be part of the history of the club and it’s nice to have a chance to win a trophy,” Crarey told the North-West Evening Mail.

“You can coach a side, do a great job and then you leave, but if you’re part of the history by winning something or being in a final, then it’s nice for this group.

“We’ve been allowed to build a side, build a culture and put a development programme in place, and we’ve done all that and more.

“It will be tough on the back of what will be a really tough run of games, but they’re made of good stuff.

“People will see us as vulnerable after we come back from Toronto with the journey and things like that, but the Toronto game is just one game.

“Everybody has got to be ready for us when we get to the final because we will give it everything we’ve got, no matter what happens before that.

“We want to get the fans who go to Blackpool back in here the week after to watch us play Hunslet and it might be the start of something big.”