COUGARS boss Paul March will demand a positive reaction from his players when they travel to promotion rivals Barrow in their third pre-season friendly next weekend.

March was left bitterly disappointed by the performance of several players in last Wednesday’s 26-24 home defeat at the hands of a youthful Halifax side.

The result followed Cougars’ encouraging opening friendly win over newly-promoted Championship side Oldham earlier this month.

March made a raft of changes for the Halifax game and will do so again for the trip to Cumbria on Sunday week (February 7).

The head coach said: “The side will change again at Barrow and we need a better reaction to those changes than what we had against Halifax last week.

“It will be a mixed side again with some regulars from last year and some young lads will also be involved.

“We’re looking to give everybody game-time in the pre-season friendlies and look at different combinations so that we are ready to play that first league game.

“We won’t read too much into these friendly results but we just need to make sure that we’re performing well.

“I don’t think we did that last week but if we get a good performance at Barrow then hopefully we will win the game.

“It will be a good test for us and the conditions will probably be pretty similar to what we have had in our past two friendlies.

“Barrow have signed some good, experienced players but we want to go up there and get a performance and put right what we didn’t do against Halifax. If we do that then I’m sure the game will be very close.”

March will continue to work with his players on specific areas for improvement ahead of the Barrow game.

He added: “I’m looking at certain defensive areas – contact, wrestle and line speed.

“We weren’t there last week against Halifax. Yes, it was a cold night and everyone in the stands were freezing, but the players were out there and I expect a lot more from them.

“We’ve got a 34-man squad and that will set us in good stead, especially if we get some injuries.

“I told some of the players after the Halifax game that their performances weren’t good enough.

“If they want to be in my squad come the first game of the season, they have to perform better than that.

“We’ve looked at things on video and will make sure we’re ready for Barrow next Sunday.”