Ciaran Walker, man of the match for Workington Town in their derby clash with Whitehaven, didn’t know he was starting until the morning of the match.
The young scrum-half was expecting to be starting on the bench until veteran Carl Forber was a late withdrawal because of COVID.
Coach Chris Thorman said: “It was probably a good thing just been told on the day that he was starting, rather than having a couple of days to think about it.
“He would be thinking that he would be getting maybe 20 minutes from the bench, but when Carl didn’t play he came in from the start.
“He did very well, especially coming into a derby game which was a step-up in intensity from the Barrow game.
“We are not getting carried away. He’s only had a couple of games and is very inexperienced at this level but I couldn’t be more happier with him.
“He is defending tough, he’s composed, his kicking game is good and his physical effort is very good so he has all the attributes.
“If he keeps his feet firmly on the ground and continues to listen and learn I think he has a big future in the game.”
A product of the Seaton Rangers club, he joined the Newcastle Thunder Academy and is now getting his chance with Town at senior level.
Thorman had been very disappointed with his side’s first-half performance against Whitehaven, but that was redeemed by their efforts in the second-half which eventually won the game.
“Overall I was generally happy with the performance because we talk about playing to the final whistle and that’s what we did to win it.
“Considering the defending we had to do in the first-half I thought we showed a lot of energy and enthusiasm in the second half.
“We righted a lot of wrongs in the second half and showed a lot of character to come back and win it.
“In the first half we had been untidy, ill-disciplined, we over-played and we lacked composure.”
Town don’t have another pre=season game before the Championship season gets underway on January 30 against Newcastle Thunder.
“We’ve got some big training session to put in before then,” he says.
Thorman also revealed that he might be announcing a new signing within the next couple of days.
“Our potential overseas recruit is taking a little longer to complete, as you would expect, with visas etc to be sorted but we are getting closer,” he added.
