Whitehaven had a disappointing build-up to the big Challenge Cup tie with St Helens on Saturday when they lost 44-6 at home to Sheffield Eagles.
It was a game which had started so positively for the hosts with an early converted try, but went downhill when Guy Graham was sent off for a dangerous tackle on 20 minutes.
The 12 men were fighting an uphill battle after that and with Sheffield showing lots of quality it became a damage limitation exercise long before the end.
After only two minutes Haven decided to take a shot at goal after two successive penalties had taken them close enough and Alex Bishop didn’t miss.
Four minutes later Haven were in for the first try when a clever grubber kick through from Connor Holliday was pursued by Ryan King and he got the touchdown. The conversion was missed.
Sheffield gradually came into the game and after 14 minutes Quentin Laulu-Togaga’e showed clever feet and strength to get through before diving over. Tom Holmes, making his Eagles debut, put over the conversion.
Then on 20 minutes came the straight red card for Graham when he tipped Joel Farrell onto his head and the game changed.
It took just four minutes for the Eagles to take the lead when Joel Farrell muscled his way over for their second try, converted by Holmes.
It became 16-6 at half time when minutes before the break Thackeray spun out a great pass and Ben Jones-Bishop scored an acrobatic, unconverted try.
The points were settled early in the second half when Laulu-Togaga’e created a try for Kris Welham; he set-up Matt Chrimes for another and then went in himself. Holmes converted two and at 32-6 it was game over.
The two sides were evened up on 65 minutes when Joel Farrell was sent off but too late to affect the outcome.
But it was Sheffield who still found the way to keep the scoreboard ticking over in the last eight minutes.
They had defended well whenever Haven did get up a head of steam and then managed to score further tries through Anthony Thackeray and Chrimes, both converted by Holmes.
