{"id":510595,"date":"2026-04-03T10:36:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T10:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/510595\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T10:36:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T10:36:17","slug":"big-match-preview-barrow-raiders-championship-r9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/510595\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Match Preview: Barrow Raiders (Championship R9)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\">Widnes Vikings travel to Craven Park on Good Friday to face Barrow Raiders in Round 9 of the Betfred Championship (3pm kick-off).<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The Vikings head into the Easter weekend seventh in the table with five wins from seven matches, but know it will be a typically tough occasion up in Cumbria against a Raiders side that also boast five wins from one fewer game.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udf9f\ufe0f\u00a0Ticket information<\/p>\n<p>Tickets are available for the game from Barrow Raiders\u2019 website <a href=\"https:\/\/www.barrowrlfc.com\/tickets\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Up until midnight the day before the game, tickets are priced at \u00a318 for adults. Junior tickets are free, but those under secondary school age must be supervised by an adult.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcfa Streaming information<\/p>\n<p>For supporters unable to attend, tomorrow\u2019s fixture at Barrow will be <a href=\"https:\/\/lounges.tv\/lounge\/details\/vvfuw4TMJt\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">streamed live<\/a> via\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lounges.tv\/lounge\/details\/vvfuw4TMJt\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lounges.TV<\/a>. Coverage will include live audio commentary, provided by BBC Radio Cumbria.<\/p>\n<p>A streaming pass, available to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lounges.tv\/lounge\/details\/vvfuw4TMJt\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">buy here<\/a>, will cost \u00a310.10, inclusive of VAT and booking fees.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcf0 Squad news<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Joe Edge returns to the 21-man-squad, in the only change from the trip to Doncaster. He replaces another outside back, Matt Fleming.<\/p>\n<p>Jay Chapelhow is in line to make his 200th career appearance, if selected.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-36835\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Squad-News.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"975\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>\ud83e\udd4a The opposition<\/p>\n<p>Barrow Raiders head coach Paul Crarey\u2019s 21-man squad for Friday includes some familiar faces to Vikings supporters.<\/p>\n<p>Brad Walker, a mainstay of Barrow\u2019s team, is a product of Widnes\u2019 academy system, while Ellis Robson is another who spent time on loan at the club earlier in his career.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Barrow Raiders 21-man squad: Ellis Archer, Alex Bishop. Luke Broadbent, Joe Bullock, Matt Costello, Charlie Emslie, Ryan Johnston, Ryan King, Dan Knott, Harvey Makin, Greg Richards, Tee Ritson, Ellis Robson, Jarrad Stack, Curtis Teare, Shane Toal, Brad Walker, Tom Walker, Stevie Watson, Josh Wood.<\/p>\n<p>\u23ea Record against Barrow<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The Vikings have won on their last two trips to Craven Park, including a fine comeback victory in Cumbria last season.<\/p>\n<p>Trailing 8-0 at half-time, tries from Jake Maizen, Matty Fozard, Joe Edge and Nick Gregson saw Allan Coleman\u2019s side complete a memorable turnaround.<\/p>\n<p>Last five meetings:<\/p>\n<p>Barrow 14-20\u00a0Widnes (Championship R22, 17\/8\/25)<br \/>\nWidnes\u00a012-37 Barrow (Championship R6, 13\/4\/25<br \/>\nBarrow 24-26\u00a0Widnes\u00a0(Championship R26, 29\/9\/24)<br \/>\nWidnes\u00a044-8 Barrow (Championship R1, 17\/3\/24)<br \/>\nBarrow 26-18\u00a0Widnes (Championship R15, 18\/6\/23)<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udde3\ufe0f Nathan Connell previews Good Friday trip to Cumbria<\/p>\n<p>Vikings full-back Nathan Connell previews the club\u2019s Good Friday trip to Barrow and discusses signing a <a href=\"https:\/\/widnesvikings.co.uk\/nathan-connell-pens-two-year-contract-extension\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">new two-year deal<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udfc9 Officials<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The referee for this fixture is Ryan Cox.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcf2 Follow the game with the Vikings<\/p>\n<p>Are you not going to be with us? You can keep updated with the Vikings\u2019 official club coverage!<\/p>\n<p>Vikings fans will be able to get full updates through our match coverage on our\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/WidnesRL\" rel=\"nofollow\">official X account<\/a> \u2013 your hub to find out all the key news, including match day line-ups, live game updates and post-game coverage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Widnes Vikings travel to Craven Park on Good Friday to face Barrow Raiders in Round 9 of the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":510596,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-510595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}