BARROW Raiders might be an “unknown quantity” — Matt Diskin’s description — but their chairman, Steve Neale, has assured Raiders fans that the whole club is determined to battle every inch of the way in their first-round Challenge Cup tie at Bower Fold.
Roughyeds have won their last 16 home games against the Furness men who, amazingly, haven’t won at Oldham since a 15-8 Slalom Lager Championship victory at Watersheddings way back on February 1, 1981.
Friendlies apart, Barrow have won four of the last ten meetings, all at Craven Park, while Oldham have won four at home and two away.
History points to another Oldham triumph in Barrow’s first-ever game at Bower Fold, but chairman Neale says his Raiders are more than capable of ending a 40-year blank in away games against Oldham.
In his weekly column in the Barrow evening paper, The Evening Mail, he told Raiders fans:
“We have our sights set firmly on the Oldham fixture.”With no warm-up games it is hard to gauge where we are in preparation, but if hard work is a guide the players should be fine.
“There is a determination in the camp to have a successful season and getting a cup run would be great preparation for the league campaign.”
Urging fans to sign up to Our League and to pay to watch the live streaming of the tie, he went on:
“A couple of pre-season friendlies were streamed last week (one being Oldham v Halifax Panthers) and from all reports the standard of production was very high.
“The RFL is not taking any revenue from the subscriptions with all the money coming back to the clubs.
“Our tie with Oldham already has a higher number of subscribers compared with some of the other cup fixtures and that could be a vital return for us in the absence of shared gate receipts.”
Oldham season-ticket holders can watch for free. The fee of £4.95 for everyone else ended at midnight, but anyone can organise viewing for a subscription of £10 up to the 12.45pm kick-off time.
