|
Rochdale Hornets 32, Workington Town 24
The inconsistencies which have blighted Workington’s start to the new season continue to hamper Town’s progress in Co-operative Championship One.
Although the season is only a few weeks old it is already littered with chalk and cheese performances which have frustrated the coaching team.
The first-half at Keighley; the first-half in South Wales; to a lesser extent the second half against York City Knights and now the first-half at Rochdale have all been in direct contrast to the games’ other 40 minutes.
Joint coach Gary Charlton said: “It’s so frustrating when the team shows it is capable but only plays for 40 minutes. They have to be able to sustain and see it through for the whole 80 minutes.”
After 18 minutes it was 18-0 to the Hornets as Town’s poor defending had let-in the home side for three tries. Rochdale aren’t going to be pushing for the League title but you still can’t give teams like them eighteen points start.
The problem was that Town probably had has much possession and territory as their opponents – if not more – but couldn’t find and exploit the gaps as well as Hornets.
Town did eventually cross the Rochdale line on 26 minutes through Jack Pedley but in effect they went to sleep again and it was two tries, just either side of the interval, which in effect sealed the Cumbrians’ fate.
A fourth Rochdale try on 36 minutes, with Liam McGovern’s fourth conversion, eased the Spotland side into a 24-6 interval lead.
Town desperately needed to score first on the re-start but after Rochdale had a try disallowed for a forward pass they did score a fifth try on 45 minutes – leaving Town just too much to do to close the gap.
They made a decent fist of it to bring the deficit back to just six points with four minutes remaining, but a last minute penalty by McGovern sealed their fate – and the bonus point was only minor consolation.
Just as they have in previous defeats, Town conceded early – going behind in the fourth minute when Rochdale scored from their third set.
Good hands exposed problems in Town’s defence and finally a popped pass from Damien Reid put loose forward Dayne Donoghue in for the try which McGovern converted – the first of five successful extras.
Town had their moments, too, early on with Paddy Coupar being stopped just short and the hard-working Jarrad Stack also within a whisker of stretching-out for a try.
They spent a fair bit of time, too, in good, attacking positions but the trouble was Rochdale appeared to have more penetration, helped by some slack tackling.
On 11 minutes Liam Finch put in a little kick on last tackle which was taken a few yards away by Gareth Hayes on his bootlaces, and practically on his 20 metre line.
He powered away on a clearing run down the middle of the field and had hooker Phil Wood snapping at his heels to continue the break before slipping winger Craig Johnson a short pass.
Helped by two weak tackles he was able to break free and dash the last ten metres to the line to help double the Rochdale lead.
Workington weren’t short of opportunities but couldn’t find the guile or route through the Rochdale defence, so that when the Hornets established field position again they scored a third try.
The Town tackling was again flimsy when McGovern stepped through the defence to score.
Town at last made inroads on 26 minutes after a recent spell of possession. The ball was moved to the left where skipper Mike Whitehead drove in before finding substitute Jack Pedley who forced his way over in the corner. Scott Kaighan landed a magnificent touchline conversion.
That might have been something to work-on at half-time, but unfortunately Town conceded again four minutes before the break. McGovern hoisted a high kick towards the Town line where it seemed to be covered but took a wicked bounce away from Neil Frazer and Dean Gorton leapt in to grab the ball and touchdown.
Right on half time Mike Backhouse darted down the touchline to grab a Finch kick and continued to the corner where he was tackled but got the ball down by the uprooted flag. It was a close call but didn’t matter because he had been ruled to have put at least one foot in touch en=-route to the try line.
Town’s disappointment continued on the resumption when Ryan Powell put in a slicing run through the Town defence and although nailed on the try-line was able to release a pass for Wood to touch down.
At 30-6 it could have been an embarrassing afternoon but credit to Town they knuckled down and gradually clawed their way back into the game – although by the time they reached 30-24 there were only four minutes left.
On 52 minutes Workington moved the ball smartly along the line with a long Finch pass proving so effective as Backhouse raced down the touchline to get the try which Kaighan again improved.
The Workington forwards had started to call the shots with new boy Jamie Butler playing his part with a hard-working, robust display and it was no real surprise when Town scored again.
Again, following solid forward drives, the ball was whipped out and a great burst by Andrew Beattie saw him unload a clever reverse pass for Backhouse to get away again and score his second try which Kaighan converted.
The momentum was with Town now, and although there was a brief flurry of Rochdale attacking, which ended with McGovern sliding a field goal attempt just wide, the Cumbrians regained the initiative.
Four minutes from time Beattie rounded-off strong Town pressure by striding 30 metres for the fourth try, again converted by Kaighan.
How disappointing then, after such a good fight-back, that Town should give away a soft penalty in the last minute and McGovern stroked it through the posts to make sure of the points.
STAR MAN: JARRAD STACK – Terrific work-rate in defence and attack and was always in the thick of the action.
Town: Lebbon, Backhouse, Beattie, Low, Frazer, L. Finch, Kaighan, Dutton, King,. Coward, Whitehead, Stack, Coupar. Subs (all used) Pedley, Robinson, McGoff, Butler.
Rochdale: English, Johnson, Gorton, Reid, Fagborun, McGovern, Roper, Hayes, Wood, Raftery, Samuel, Ashall, Donoghue. Subs (all used): Ostick, Cookson, Powell, Smith.
Referee: Craig Halloran
Crowd: 421
|
News
News Feeds
