Workington Zebras reached their first Cumbria Cup semi final for eight years following a ruthless dismantling of fallen giants Aspatria at a well attended Ellis Sports Ground.

There was a time when the Black Reds routinely inflicted romps like this on hapless opposition on the way to making the Cumbria Cup their own in the 80’s and early 90’s. On this display, and throughout their season as a whole, the Bower Park Class of 2010 are a painfully thin ghost of those halcyon days.
 
It finished 46-14 to the Zebras who will now host Penrith in the semi-final, again at the Ellis Sports Ground next Saturday, for the right to take-on Carlisle in the final.

From the kick off, Ben Lanigan’s men went at the Black Reds and on three minutes opened the floodgates with a fine penalty from Jonny Howarth (pictured top left). 
 
All match long the Zebras’ pack, particularly the front row, dominated the set piece and after Lanigan and Hastings took another scrum against the head, a well rehearsed passing sequence ended with Martin Armstrong darting in unmarked over the line, with Howarth’s kick making it 10 – 0.
 
Aspatria, to their credit, rallied and apart from a well executed John Chisnall drop goal on 24 minutes, valiantly held off the rampant Zebras until on 27 minutes, Armstrong suddenly broke free from their shackles to feed Dion Seath (pictured below), who charged over for a try that once more Howarth effortlessly converted.

Following another spell of containment from Aspatria – for whom scrum half Jack Clegg was outstanding – Workington’s scrum turned up the heat deep in stoppage time and were rewarded with Ross Dougherty tumbling over the line, leaving Howarth with another conversion.
 
It was déjà vu in the second half as Zebras swamped their opponents half and on 50 minutes Armstrong broke away to cruise over for his second try of the match. 
 
This time record points scorer Kevin Harper took over kicking duties and made no mistake. Lesser opposition would have just buckled under.
 
Not Aspatria, and on the hour their long suffering supporter were rewarded with a consolation try when Nick Edgar snaffled a pass from Heine Jonker and sped over the line. Stephen Stoddart easily converted.

Having had back to back clean sheets, this would have irritated Workington and on 74 minutes, they produced the “champagne moment” of the match as Bede O’Connor received the ball just past the halfway before proceeding to weave past five players on his way to an impeccable try between the posts. Chisnall – like Howarth and Harper before – made no mistake with the conversion.

Aspatria were determined to build on their earlier try and three minutes from time doubled their score with a well earned try from Jonker, then conversion by Stoddart.
 
The last word went to Workington right at the end when another scrimmage led to Tom Lawson nipping in for an unconverted try.

Credit must go to referee Steve Holmes who let the game flow freely – a trait that some of his contemporaries could not master in games at The Ellis this season. Also, it was great to see Aspatria coach Mark Richardson – a true Cumbrian sporting legend – receive a warm reception from the crowd before and after the game.

Next Saturday’s semi final against Penrith – again at The Ellis – promises to be an intriguing battle and Workington will be fancying their chances of another upset after the Winters Park outfit were trounced 60 -3 at Stockport to end their promotion hopes.

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