Workington Town 32, York City Knights 22

Workington Town scored their first Co-operative Championship One victory of the season after a near-perfect first-half display.

A minute from the break Town were leading 30-0 after their most authoritative, slick and disciplined performance of the season so far.

Then Chris Thorman, the caretaker coach for the Knights, produced his side’s one moment of magic in that opening period and created a try for full-back Danny Ratcliffe which was to prove a turning point for the visitors.

Responding to Thorman’s interval team talk the Knights came back well to cut the deficit to 30-22 with a quarter of the game still left.

But fortunately Town were able to steady the ship, regain their composure and find the resolve and commitment needed to see them through to a deserved victory.

“I thought we were excellent in the first-half. There was a great response from all the players after last week’s Challenge Cup disaster. They had vowed to put things right and that first-half was as good as it gets.

“Unfortunately we lost our way in the second-half and didn’t do what we were doing well earlier in the game. They came right back into it, but we did do enough late on to hold the advantage and it was a good victory,” said joint coach Gary Charlton.

A key player in the first-half, when Town were at their very best, was hooker Darren King brought in for his first start of the season.

He was busy, lively, inventive, tough in defence and resourceful forming an effective axis alongside half-backs Liam Finch and Scott Kaighan.

The plan was to give the returning King 25-30 minutes in each half, but in fact he stayed for almost 70 minutes before taking a well-earned rest.

Town had been sharp from the start, trying to following their coaches’ instruction and build pressure on the opposition. They did it so effectively they scored five first-half tries.

It had been a small enough gain to start with, a Kaighan penalty on even minutes but then the tries started to flow at regular intervals – two in two minutes giving them the platform to hammer home the message to shell-shocked York.

Liam Finch created the first on 16 minutes with an attempted reverse kick near the line. It took a deflection but ended over the line under the posts where Kaighan was first there to make the touchdown and add the conversion.

A minute later York were on the receiving end, this time from a Jarrad Stack charge at the line. He just kept going forward, brushing aside, pushing away and trampling over the tackles that came in but were unable to stop his progress. Again Kaighan converted.

The best try came on 24 minutes after Mike Whitehead had made a good clearing run out of defence. Town kept going forward and when Andrew Beattie sliced through, drawing the full-back he found Liam Finch up his inside to take the pass and go on to score with Kaighan adding the extras.

Whitehead went close to scoring himself when he almost got over in the corner on 32 minutes but from the play-the-ball King burrowed over for a richly deserved try which Kaighan converted off the touchline.

There was still time for a fifth Workington try. Good handling sent Neil Frazer away in the 10 metre zone and he cleverly stepped inside the last two defenders to score the try which Kaighan was unable to convert.

York finally sprung to life in the final minute of the half. Thorman sliced through in classy fashion and as Brett Carter made the challenge he slipped the pass for Danny Ratcliffe to score under the posts. Lee Waterman converted.

Three minutes after the restart it was Waterman who went in for the second York try and when he also got over on 50 minutes and added the conversion, the warning signs were flashing.

Was this a fade-out of 2009 proportions? It got worse before it got better as Joe McLocklan nipped in for a fourth York try on 58 minutes and Waterman added the conversion.

If Waterman hadn’t dropped the ball as he crossed the Town line five minutes later it might have been enough to lift York to victory, but Town survived and gradually started to make ground for the first time in the half.

The talking tightened up in he closings stages and Town posed questions of their own ion the final third, but the only addition to the score was a Kaighan penalty with the last kick of the game.

STAR MAN: DARREN KING – Very impressive first appearance of the season, at the hub of numerous good things for Town.

Town: Carter, Backhouse, Beattie, Low, Frazer, L. Finch, Kaighan, Dutton, King, Coward, Whitehead, Stack, Coupar. Subs (all used): Marshall, McKenna, J. Finch, McGoff.

York: Ratcliffe, Rettie, Mitchell, Waterman, Lewis, Thorman, Bromilow, Fallon, McLocklan, Benson, Ross, Hill, Blakeaway. Subs (all used) Stamp, Applegarth, Waller, Freer.

Referee: Matthew Kidd, Castleford

Crowd: 466

---

Bookmark with: what are these?