Hornets looking to raid Barrow again

Hornets

Rochdale Hornets will be looking to keep their stranglehold on top spot in the Kingstone Press League One table when they face Barrow Raiders at Craven Park on Sunday.

Hornets go into the game off the back of a dramatic draw with full-time French outfit Toulouse Olympique, as they battled from 16-0 down before a late Paul Crook penalty sealed a point in a 28-all draw.

It was a brilliant response from Hornets, who are yet to hit top form in 2016, however Hornets coach Alan Kilshaw believes they can take a lot from their unbeaten start to the league campaign and their performance on Sunday.

He said: “It shows firstly that we have some depth in the squad and secondly that we are grinding out results.

“I do believe that we will get a lot of confidence and momentum from Sunday’s performance. We showed some real toughness and we attacked really well.

“We’re not going to get challenged defensively or come up against a defence like that every week, so we can take a lot of confidence from that and I do believe we will kick on now we have players back from injury in key positions.

“We’re only going to get better.”

The last time Hornets met Barrow was in the first competitive fixture of the season, as they locked horns in the first round of the iPro Sport Cup.

Hornets came away with a hard-fought 14-4 victory in terrible conditions, as many of their new recruits made their competitive bow for the club.

Kilshaw knows that it will be just as tough as their previous visit as the Raiders have brought in some new faces, and also feels that their 21-18 defeat away to Doncaster last week could spur them on.

He said: “It’ll be as tough as the last time, with different weather hopefully.

“They have signed a couple of players since then, a couple of panic signings, and obviously they have played together more since then.

“They will be motivated to bounce back off the back of a tough loss, so we will be up against it.”

He is also expecting a physical encounter, but not the kind of physicality they faced a week earlier after incidents of biting and gouging, with Bastien Ader being placed on report for biting Lewis Galbraith.

He added: “Barrow play a tough game, but not like that, and we just hope that when other teams face Toulouse that it is officiated and governed better.”

A trip to Cumbria to face the Raiders can be a daunting task, with the coach journey sometimes leading to a slow start from visiting teams.

Hornets aim to combat that by travelling on Saturday and staying over, allowing the players to go into the game fresh and focused, without having to deal with bank holiday traffic.

Kilshaw said: “We can get a lot of quality stuff done, we don’t usually get to spend that amount of time together. Saturday morning’s session will still be in Rochdale, but we will be able to do a bit more video prep and a bit more structured stuff as a team.

“As well, we won’t have that long journey on the day in bank holiday traffic. We won’t be sat on a bus most of Sunday, and Barrow try and start games well with that in mind, that teams are coming off the bus so that should take that advantage away from them.

“Half of their team will be travelling up on the day because they are not based in Barrow, whereas we will already be there raring to go.”

Their only absentees are Jo Taira, who is likely to serve a five game suspension, and Dave Cookson who is a matter of weeks away from a return from a shoulder injury.

With most of their first team squad now fit and available for selection, the future is looking bright for Hornets.

Killshaw concluded: “We are getting bodies back now and that will breed competitiveness within the squad.

“Also, it will lead to consistency on the field and we won’t have to rely on dual-registration [players] as much.

“I think things are looking good going forward, and hopefully we can keep everyone fit and healthy.”