Whitehaven produced another second-half recovery, scoring 32 unanswered points to beat Dewsbury Rams 40-12 at the LEL Arena.
They had trailed 12-8 at the break but stormed back to record their second Betfred Championship win of the season in a game which had started 20 minutes late.
But Whitehaven were least affected by the delay and started well enough taking the early lead after good pressure ended with Tom Wilkinson going in for a try which Alex Bishop converted.
Haven had Tom Walker yellow-carded on 15 minutes but almost immediately they increased the lead. After he had taken a high shot Bishop went for goal with the penalty and was successful.
But it was Dewsbury who came more into the game over the second quarter of the game and on 28 minutes they cut the deficit to two points.
Matty Beharrell strode through the Whitehaven defence to put Dixon over in the corner. Beharrell landed the conversion from wide out.
It was a tough contest, particularly up-front, but just when Whitehaven were thinking of going into the break with the lead they lost it.
A chip over the top from Milnes was gathered by Beharrell and he returned the ball to Milnes to score a fine try. Beharrell converted.
But it didn’t take long for Haven to regain the initiative. Some fine approach play ended with Jake Bradley scoring to level the scores and Bishop’s conversion handed them the lead which they never lost.
It was a crucial period of the game as both sides went set for set and with only two points in it there was no way of predicting just how comfortably Haven would be in the end.
Guy Graham was the man who lit the blue touch paper for Haven when he crashed over for the crucial try which Bishop converted.
Bishop added a penalty and then he demonstrated Haven’s growing confidence when he got through for a try and added the conversion, and at 28-12 the hosts were starting to cruise.
Callum Phillips and skipper Karl Dixon both added tries in the closing stages with Bishop’s conversion giving him eight goals on the day, and with a try thrown in he had scored half of his side’s points.
