Halifax away at The Shay has never been an easy fixture and last Sunday was no exception.

Being 28-0 down at half time was game over for Barrow Raiders, but a creditable second half performance restricted Halifax to just 18 points whilst scoring a couple of tries themselves to make the final score 46-10.

So, we are at the halfway stage of the season, 13 games gone and 14 to play.

With only one victory, supporters are naturally frustrated with plenty of traffic on social media expressing a wide range of opinions, but as chairman Steve Neale said in his column: “Some may be seen as criticism, but I welcome their views. If fans are making comments, it is because they care”

That’s why I write this column and I would advocate that anyone who subscribes to the lottery and other fundraising projects including sponsorship and goes to Craven Park every fortnight is entitled to an opinion.

The main theme emerging is consistent with my own thoughts: that discipline needs to improve and because of the injury situation/ current form that reinforcements are required.

That is not to criticise the current squad, but is an acceptance that a few experienced quality signings will hopefully help raise the spirits and subsequent performances down at Craven Park.

Sport is a wonderful invention which thrives on opinions and also evokes emotion rarely seen in other walks of life.

The Liverpool and Spurs achievements this last week in the face of adversity has demonstrated that.

Our ‘Furness’ world is somewhat different, being relatively ‘isolated’ on a peninsular and that gives the area the ‘big village’ feel and a sense of ‘togetherness’ in striving for success, but also a realism that trying to get Barrow RLFC back in the big time is going to be a difficult journey for various reasons such as geography and finance.

I know from personal experience as a director just how difficult it is and I applaud the current board, coaching staff, players, support staff and the supporter’s group for all their hard work and dedication.

They deserve success for the significant improvements that have been made both on and off the pitch.

Rugby league is a tough working-class sport played by tough individuals who put their bodies on the line every time they cross the white line.

The risks are high and serious injury could occur in the next tackle. Every player deserves respect and those who don a Barrow jersey in this very competitive league know that they must punch above their weight every week.

One conceded penalty, one missed tackle or one wrong call can be the difference between winning and losing. Any mistakes made at this level are punished and we all bear witness to that.

The supporters all recognise this and the vast majority, including myself, believe we have the ideal template. A local coach and supporting staff who have all played professionally for the club with a nice balance of local talent and a few quality travellers.

Paul Crarey came back for his second stint at the club in November 2015, following our relegation to League One, and has been successful in gaining promotion to the Championship and surviving, winning the League One trophy and was instrumental in the creation of Furness Raiders, who had a magnificent Aoc National Cup final victory last week.

However, despite all the benefits of sport, it is also a results business where you are only as good as your last game.

Every week the team’s performance is scrutinised and commented upon by pen pushers like me and a ‘performance metric’ league table with real time data is there for the world to see.

Amazingly, since Paul was appointed head coach three-and-a-half years ago, there are only half a dozen clubs, including Barrow, out of 37 professional rugby league clubs who haven’t changed their coach.

Like the majority of supporters, I also believe that changing the coach is not the solution here and despite the situation we find ourselves it is evident that the board and supporters including myself want Paul to continue to try and ensure Barrow’s Championship survival.

This is a crossroads moment; it is time for calm reflection and learning in order to enhance the positives and eliminate the negatives to enable total focus on the remaining 14 games, which commence next Sunday against Sheffield Eagles in the televised Blackpool Summer Bash.