It was first blood to Whitehaven in their double header with Workington Town ahead of the new League season.
Haven won 28-22 at the Fibrus Community Stadium in froint of 1,476 fans and will be back in a fortnight’s time to defend the Ike Southward Memorial Trophy.
But there were plenty of positives for Town coach Anthony Murray about the way his League One side performed for much of the contest, which effectively was a dead rubber in the 1895 Cup competition.
His side were the better side in the first-half and their 16-12 interval lead did not really reflect their superiority.
Both Haven’s tries came from Town errors – a dropped ball on the Haven line and a misguided pass on half-way which was intercepted.
Jake Maizen was the benefactor on both occasions, racing 80 metres for his first and then taking Jarrod Sammut’s inviting pass to dash in for the second.
Town had started as they finished at Batley last week, positively and in determined fashion as Whitehaven, also like last week, were slow out of the traps, ponderous and seemingly not as committed as their hosts.
It took only five minutes for Town to take the lead when skipper and eventual nab of the match Steve Scholey was through to collect a little stabbed kick from Sammut and score. Carl Forber converted.
Town were setting the agenda and they were in again on 12 minutes. After going close on the left they took advantage of some slow Haven defence to move the ball quickly to the right and Dave Eccleston went in against his former team-mates. This time Forber missed the kick.
Whitehaven hadn’t threatened at all and they were given a helping hand on 21 minutes.
Town dropped the ball in the Whitehaven ten metre zone and it was Maizen who picked up to race clear for the try, converted by Jake Carter.
But a minute later the Whitehaven defence was caught out when the restart kick was allowed to bounce and there was Sammut to collect and go over for the try which Forber converted.
A 16-6 deficit at half-time might have been flattering to Haven so when they scored again on 37 minutes it definitely wasn’t a reflection on how the half had panned out.
Maxen intercepted Sammut’s pass and shot away to score and Carter’s conversion closed it up at 16-12.
It didn’t immediately get better for Whitehaven in the second half as within four minutes they were further behind. Good early pressure from Town ended with Matty Henson forcing his way over from close range. Forber’s conversion stretched the lead to 10 points again.
But from that point Whitehaven got their game together. The running and handling were sharper and the tackler harder and more efficient than it had been. They scored 16 unanswered points to win the game and had another try disallowed for a forward pass in the last minute.
Ryan King started the fightback on 50 minutes with a stirring burst and he had Rio Corkill with him to collect the pass and score. Carter converted and it was back to a four point game.
Carter created the try that put Haven level on 55 minutes. After a smart handling move he floated out a high pass for Joey Romeo to collect and go over in the corner. The conversion was missed.
The scoring burst continued four minutes later when Carter came onto a pass at a sharp angle and dashed through for the try which he converted.
Town did have a couple of close calls, particularly when JJ Key surged for the line and was stopped just short.
Then in the last minute Carter thought he had scored his second try but it was disallowed for a forward pass.
Afterwards Town coach Anthony Murray said: “There were a lot of positives from the game to take forward but I want them to feel angry that they lost the game.”
Haven coach Jonty Gorley said: “How we started was a problem again and is something I am going to sort but pleased with the second-half display and the win.”
To hear what both coaches said about the game you can hear their interviews with Cumbria Crack’s John Walsh below:
