Leon Pryce said he could retire happy if his Workington Town charges achieved promotion in his first year in charge at Derwent Park.

Town take on Bradford Bulls at Odsal in the Betfred League One Play-off final on Sunday with promotion to the Championship the winners’ reward.

And Pryce said although it has been a tough road, he is proud of his charges and how they have pulled it together.

“In my own mind when I first took over promotion was always my plan,” said Pryce.

“Then, when I got about five games in, and realised with the squad we had we were miles off.

“So to get to this stage of the year and knowing how hard it is in this league to even get people training, to get up in my first year I could retire now and never coach again.

“I would be happy.

“It is some achievement and that is as a team. We all work together as a group. It is all about us.”

Pryce says the buzz at the club is helping everyone prepare for Sunday.

“The club, the players and the fans, myself and everyone are all on a big high, there’s a real buzz,” he added.

“It has made the journey up to training this week much easier and our preparations a lot easier – just getting to the final is massive for the club.

“Obviously there is a financial reward, we get a shared gate with Bradford and if the worst comes to the worst, also a shared gate with Swinton.

“Then if we can get promoted the financial rewards are great. So this is a massive game.

“It was a massive performance against Doncaster to get here, professional, methodical.

“We have shown we can play so many times this season, against Bradford home and away, against York and Doncaster. We put in good performances against good teams.

“The problem for us was always consistency. But that is hard with such a small squad.

“York and Bradford have been so consistent because if they lose players through injury or rest them, they can bring in more players of the same quality to replace them.

“For us, we were a bit inconsistent at the start of the year but from the middle we have found some consistency.

“We are down to our bare bones after losing Sam Forrester and Perry Singleton but everyone we have is champing at the bit to play.”