DEFLATED Workington Reds boss Derek Townsley admitted he thought it was maybe 'going to be their day' just before Salford snatched a late 3-2 victory in Saturday's play-off final.

Reds were leading 2-1 in the Evo-Stik premier division play-off final up until the final 11 minutes when their hosts Salford clinched two goals to take the win and secure promotion.

But, despite the disappointment of the defeat, Townsley paid tribute to his battling troops who gave their all.

"I can't criticise anybody," he admitted. "There were a lot of tired legs out there, certainly in the second half and of course when you're tired you make mistakes.

"We're all down and we're all disappointed now but I'm sure that in a week or a month we'll reflect and see what a fantastic journey it has been.

"I thought without playing particularly well in the first half, I was delighted to go in 2-1 up but in the second half we never really got going.

"But at one point I looked at my watch, with about 15 minutes to go, and I thought maybe it was going to be our day and maybe we were going to hold out but we never managed to."

A bumper crowd of just under 2,000 and featuring a sea of Workington fans, plus Salford FC owners Gary Neville and Paul Scholes, watched the clash.

Reds suffered a blow when key attacker Joe McGee picked up a knee injury half way through the first half.

But early goals from Kyle May and Gareth Arnison put Workington ahead. However, it was not quite enough and as the team tired, Salford pushed on.

"Possibly Blyth took more out of us than we thought," said Townsley. 

"That was a great occasion and we had hoped for another one but I think most folk will agree that it's been a good season.

"There are a lot of positives to take out of it when possibly the wheels were coming off. 

"It is testament to the players and tells you a great deal about them. 

"They give their absolute everything and they have done that today so they are disappointed."

Now Townsley has to gather his troops together for tomorrow night's Cumberland Cup final against Aspatria at Brunton Park, ko 7pm.

"It's a cup final so we will lift ourselves and be up for it," he added. "It will be a very tough game, Aspatria aren't going to lie down and let us run over the top of them.

"There is a cup at stake and I said early on in the competition, that it was one we wanted to do well in so let's go out on a high on Tuesday."