Workington Town 6 Featherstone Rovers 52: A poor display from Workington Town saw them lose even more ground in the Championship, with a heavy defeat at home to Featherstone Rovers.

Town looked lacking in enthusiasm and drive as Rovers took the initiative from the off and never looked back.

With other results going the way of fellow strugglers Oldham and Swinton, Town are starting to be cast adrift at the bottom of the table as we near the halfway point.

Featherstone punched holes in Town’s defence with ease at times and although the home side got in some good attacking positions, they could not finish them off.

It could perhaps have been a different story if Town had not had two tries disallowed for forward passes.

But, in the end, Featherstone were clear victors and Town need to go back to the drawing board ahead of their next game in two weeks time.

The visitors also returned home with the Billy Ivison Memorial Trophy that the two sides compete for each year.

Featherstone were quick out of the blocks and were putting pressure on Town’s defence early on.

But Brett Carter stepped up to defuse an early probing kickand come away from his own line.

But Town handed their opponents field position as they gave away a penalty inside their own half.

And Featherstone used hands down the line and John Davies came from dummy half and squirmed his way over the line, with Kyran Johnson converting.

Town tried to strike back as Carl Forber and Kris coward combined to send the half back across the line but it was pulled back by the referee for a forward pass.

Then Featherstone struck three times in a destructive seven minute spell.

First the Town defence just opened up to let Ian Hardman through to touch down.

Then full back Hardman was over again two minutes later after a great break from Danny Craven, Johnson adding both goals.

Workington finally got back down to pressurise the Rovers line but as they spread it wide, Featherstone winger Scott Turner nipped in with a cheeky interception and went the length of the field to score in the corner.

Jack and Chris Murphy looked to combine to send winger Chris diving over in the corner but again Town were brought back for a forward pass.

And Featherstone came right back and Town were put under increasing amounts of pressure.

Jack Murphy was forced back over the line for a drop-out as they looked to add to their tally.

Town gave away a penalty for a shoulder charge and Featherstone again took advantage as Andy Ellis drew the defence and put in a nice inside ball for Craven to score.

Johnson’s conversion made it 28-0 to Featherstone at half time.

Workington were caught out straight after the second half kick off as the ball was fumbled and Rovers’ Brad Tagg reacted quickly to scoop the ball up and score by the posts, leaving an easy conversion for Johnson.

Town finally made a breakthrough when Sammut put boot to ball near the try line and Brett Phillips raced through to touch down.

Carl Forber added the extras and the scoreline stood at 34-6 in the visitors’ favour.

Declan Hulme made a good break but Town seemed to lack the killer instinct near the line and did not make the most of their chances.

Sammut was unhappy with a challenge and he was vocal to the referee which earned him 10 minutes in the sin bin to cool his heels.

This made Town’s task even harder, now down to 12 men and Featherstone wasted no time in making their advantage count.

A large gap opened up in the defence and prop Jack Ormondroyd crashed over the try line, with Johnson kicking the extras.

Featherstone ran in two final tries to extend their scoreline.

Hardman supplied the final pass for Cording to touch down and Will Milner released Davies to collect his second of the afternoon.

The reliable Johnson tagged on both conversions and the final score stood at 52-6.

Workington Town: J Murphy, C Murphy, Hulme, Mossop, Carter, Forber, Sammut, Coward, Doran, Verlinden, B Phillips, Gee, Mattinson. Subs (all used): C Phillips, Shackley, Walker, Gordon.

Tries: B Phillips 44; Goal: Forber 1/1.

Featherstone: Hardman, Johnson, Tagg, Taulapapa, Turner, Milner, Craven, Bostock, Ellis, Ormondrod, Cording, Davies, Spears. Subs (all used): Roche, Cooper, Griffin, Blockley.

Tries: Davies 6, 73, Hardman 17, 19, Turner 24, Craven 39, Tagg 40, Ormondroyd 57, Cording 64; Goals: Johnson 8/9.

Referee: Andy Sweet.

Attendance: 719.