Workington Town were beaten 48-18 in their Challenge Cup third round tie at Batley Bulldogs.
They were well beaten by the Championship side but could take heart from their second-half performance.
Trailing 40-0 at half-time the tie was virtually wrapped-up by the hosts but Town came out strongly down the slope and scored three converted tries.
Indeed they won the second-half 18-8, which will encourage coach Anthony Murray ahead of next week’s derby clash at home to Whitehaven.
Batley had started on the front-foot and Town were forced to defend stoutly right from the kick-off when the home side forced a goal-line drop-out.
It didn’t take them long to register the first try through full-back Robbie Butterworth and it was virtually all one-way traffic in the first half with the Bulldogs powering down the famous hill!
They finished the half with seven tries, six of which were converted by Josh Woods.
Butterworth, Dale Morton, West Cumbrian Alistair Leak, Luke Cooper, Lucas Walshaw, Ben White and Nyle Flynn scored the tries.
Town started the second-half positively and were quickly on the scoreboard when Grant Reid barged over from close range and Cieran Walker converted.
Then, from a scrum, Chris Taylor drove through to score the second Town try which was again converted by Walker.
Although Batley scored again from their first serious attack of the half through Kieran Buchanan, Town were knocking on the door soon afterwards.
Even with Jarrod Sammut in the bin for 10 minutes they posed some problems for the Bulldogs.
This time it was Jake Bradley who scored the try which was again converted by Walker.
Batley did have the final word with another unconverted try by George Senior, but Town emerged from credit after looking as though they were going to be overwhelmed.
