It was billed as a four pointer but Whitehaven 31-6 home win over Newcastle Thunder carried the Cumbrians to the heady heights of ninth in the Championship.
They are now five points clear of both bottom club Newcastle and fellow Cumbrians Barrow who have only a win and a draw each from nine games.
Survival has always been the aim this season for Haven and this continued a very good run of results which have yielded wins at York and Barrow.
Josh Rourke had put the first points on the board for Haven with an early penalty and they built on that when a great ball from Alex Bishop sent Karl Dixon in for the first try. Rourke converted.
It was a tight half well contested by both sides with the defences generally on top, so there was no further score before half-time.
Whitehaven started well in the second period and soon added to their lead when the lively Bishop cleverly dummied the Newcastle defence before diving over. Rourke tacked on the extras for a 14-0 lead.
Newcastle couldn’t budge a resolute home defence while Whitehaven looked lively and dangerous when they mounted their attacks.
It was no real surprise when Tom Walker barged over for the third home try which was again converted by Rourke.
Whitehaven continued to force the pace and after Perry Singleton had made the Newcastle line for try number four it was Rourke who crossed for the final try following a lovely, flowing move. He landed the conversion.
Ryan King was sent to the sin bin and the one real disappointment for coach Jonty Gorley was that Haven conceded during his absence. Alex Donaghy went in at the corner and former Whitehaven half-back Nikau Williams converted.
But the final score came from Haven, a late successful field goal from Jamie Doran.
