As we exclusively told you earlier in the week Darren Holt has now officially completed the necessary forms that make him a Workington Town player.

The 33-year-old now completes a full-house of Cumbrian clubs having previously served Carlisle, Whitehaven and Barrow. At Craven Park he established himself as the club’s record goal-kicker.

Interestingly Town coach Gary Charlton is also a member of that exclusive club of players who have played during their careers for Carlisle, Whitehaven, Workington and Barrow.

Charlton recognises the qualities possessed by Holt, who has been playing and coaching Furness rugby union in the North Lancs Cumbria League.

On his way to London for the game with London Skolars tomorrow Charlton said: “Darren has been a class player over many season squad his experience will be invaluable to us at Town.

“He will help our half-backs and hookers through his experience of controlling and shepherding teams around the park. He’s arrived, too, at a time when we have two of them Jack Pedley and Darren King out with injury.

“The experience he has is something hat aren’t blessed with a lot at Derwent Park. If you take Mike Whitehead and Neil Frazer out of the team there aren’t many who have played a lot of games at this level.”

Town spokesman Malcolm Allison added: "Darren will be coming in as cover for the hookers and he will also give us that much needed guidance around the park."

He took park in his first training session on Thursday but won’t be ready to play in Town’s colours until next Sunday when the west Cumbrians host Doncaster.

With a run of games against struggling London Skolars, Doncaster and Gateshead, the Town coaches feel they have an opportunity to kick-on and establish themselves in the play-off beths.

Skolars, who have lost all eight of their league fixtures this term, see Matt Thomas return after a successful ear operation.
London coach James Massara said: “Our week off has meant that we’ve been able to recharge a bit, and it gives us an extra week to focus and rip in to some things.

“We’re still pretty skinny in terms of squad numbers. We’re in the process of trying to fix some people up. The props are our big issue at the moment, and it has been for a month or so.

“We’re looking to bring some people in and we’re also desperately trying to rehabilitate the blokes we’ve got missing. We’re not going to rush into anything because I’m confident in the blokes we’ve got.”

He added: “We’ve had a few videos of Workington, and this extra time has allowed us to have a good look at them. They’re a big unit, they deserve a lot of respect, and they’ll be a handful, but we had some good things come out of our game against Hunslet.”

Charlton said: “In parts of our game against Hunslet on Monday we played some decent rugby, but we made too many errors and that’s what cost us.

“They were individual errors, with players not thinking on their feet. It’s not through lack of effort or anything like that.”
He added: “I know James Massara has brought a lot of new players in and it takes time for them to gel. It’s a long trip for us, but we’ve just got to get on with it and try our best.”

Town left this morning, will train at Leigh Sports Village and then continue on to the capital.

---

Bookmark with: what are these?