Workington Town crashed to a 66-22 defeat at Newcastle Thunder to remain rooted to the foot of the Betfred Championship.
If there were any consolations they were that all three sides immediately above them in the table also lost, and that help is at hand with two loanees from the Catalans Dragons in for next week’s home clash with Widnes.
The momentum had been with Newcastle in the first-half when they established a 30-6 lead. It had been pretty even apart from the respective 20 metre zones where Thunder were tighter in defence and sharper in attack.
It had taken just two minutes for Thunder to go ahead as they worked the ball wide for Isaac Nokes to charge over and Riley Dean converted.
On 14 minutes Nokes was the provider as he broke down the right and when he fed inside Alex Foster had a 30-metres run to mark his 150th career game with a try, converted by Dean.
Town looked capable when they had the ball and on 18 minutes they reduced the arrears. Former Newcastle player Joe Brown went in from close range and Carl Forber added the conversion.
But Newcastle were quick to regain their 12 point advantage as Josh Eaves sniped through a gap to score on 22 minutes and Dean converted.
Town were still in the contest but a try on 29 minutes from Sam Halsall, converted by Dean began to make it look ominous.
Six minutes before the break Town got in a mess defending their own line and when the ball went loose Brad Day swooped to score and Dean continued his 100 per cent record.
Town needed to score first after trailing 30-6 at the break but it was Newcastle who added to their tally three minutes after the re-start.
Halsall went on a weaving run before putting Dean in for a try which the scorer converted and soon after Thunder played patient rugby before Day went in for his second try. Dean converted.
On 52 minutes Town did get over after a penalty near the home line eventually allowed Glenn Riley to crash over. Forber converted.
Two minutes later the visitors scored again when former Newcastle player Alex Clegg jinked through for the touchdown which Forber improved.
Just over the hour, however, Newcastle were in again when Miitch Clark powered over from close range. Dean converted.
Then on 65 minutes, with Town anticipating the referee’s whistle which never came, Halsall chipped over the defence and ran through to collectand score. Dean converted.
Into the last 10 minutes Halsall completed his hat-trick and added a fourth while in between time Clegg scored his second try for Workington.
