THE trip to Workington gave us an opportunity to get back on track after our disappointing result against Rochdale. Coming so soon after that defeat, it also helped us to quickly restore morale.

I also thought that it was our most intelligent performance of the season against a team that had won their previous four games.

Solid defence, an outstanding kicking game (which forced nine drop-outs) and good ball control were the key elements, but I was also very pleased with the character shown by all 17 players.

THE players will be looking to continue that performance against Barrow on Sunday. Again, barrow are likely to provide stiff opposition, particularly with the return of Aussie hooker, Clark. He and Darren Holt are their two key players and Holt is attracting the attention of a host of Super League clubs.

The game will see the return of Daio Powell who was rested with a shoulder injury. Unfortunately his replacement, Karl Smith, had to brought off after 20 minutes with a recurrence of his own shoulder problem and will need a series of lower intensity games before being re-introduced to first team rugby.

ONE PLAYER who will be looking forward to Sunday's game is Darren Carter who comes from Barrow. He has spent most of his career there and knows many of their players, so he will be well motivated.

I AM pleased to have secured the signature of Joe Berry who played for the club under Phil Larder. He played for Huddersfield in the Super League before moving more recently to Doncaster Dragons. Joe suffered a facial injury and will not be able to play for another four weeks, but I expect him to be a great asset at prop or second row when we reach the business end of the season.

IT WOULD be remiss of me not to give a mention to our fantastic supporters who backed us in true Cougar fashion up in Cumbria. To achieve our ambitions we do rely on the support of fans and I implore everyone to bring a friend with them to boost our crowd.

This would not only be good from a financial point of view but when we have a big crowd the atmosphere is electric, as we saw against Featherstone.