Whitehaven won the West Cumbrian derby at Headingley 28-10 and virtually guaranteed their Championship survival.
It was a hard-fought Summer Bash contest in which Town played their part as they desperately tried to give themselves some hope of avoiding the drop back to League One.
That now looks virtually sealed, although this particular game was only settled in the last few minutes when Andrew Bulman scored back-to-back tries for Whitehaven.
It had been a very tough start to the game, with both sides high in their intensity and had the feel of a proper Cumbrian derby clash – even being played in Leeds.
Town looked the better side in the opening quarter and there had to be some good defence from their rivals.
Karl Dixon produced one particularly strong tackle to keep-out Oscar Thomas when Town thought they were in.
It was Town who did take the lead with a Carl Forber penalty and he soon doubled the lead with a second.
But it was Whitehaven who produced a big finish to the half with two tries in the last six minutes.
First it was Will Evans who got over after Town had been penalised, and Nikau Williams converted.
Then a splendid effort by Luke Broadbent got Haven on the scoresheet as he rounded-off a fine handling move by selling a dummy and going in despite the attentions of two defenders. Williams converted for a 12-4 lead at the break.
Town could feel hard done by after a decent first half effort but they were back in the contest with a converted try three minutes into the second-half.
Haven were caught napping, guilty of some weak defending as Forber somehow got through four tacklers to touchdown and then add the conversion.
Then it was Town’s turn to show their resolve as Haven had three sets on the line without being able to break through.
When Town hit back they had a chance to get back on terms but Forber slid a penalty wide.
On 65 minutes Haven forced a drop-out and they were able to build on that and score a crucial try through Tom Walker which Williams converted.
Town weren’t finished and came back with Conor Fitzsimmons going strongly for the line but was held-up.
Then two tries in the space of three minutes settled the game. Andrew Bulman was the scorer on both occasions and from being a tight contest, in the balance, Haven had secured the points.
Bulman went in at the corner for his first and Williams was unable to convert. Then when Town went to sleep from the kick-off they were opened up too easily and Bulman sliced through for his second, converted by Williams who was awarded the man of the match.
