Carlisle were made to work hard for their win over Hawcoat Park, as the Warwick Road side recorded another bonus point win at home.

The 46-13 scoreline probably didn’t do justice to the visitors as they made life very difficult for Carlisle in the first half and had chances to put more points on the board.

However you have to convert those chances and Carlisle certainly did that, recording their ninth try bonus point this season.

There were less than two minutes on the clock when Carlisle got the perfect start. A loose ball was picked up by winger Luke Davidson who scampered home for Carlisle’s first try.

Then, after only five minutes, Carlisle scored again.

From a line-out, the Carlisle catch and drive was stopped but the ball was worked across the park for centre Dan Holmes to burst through a group of Hawcoat players and touchdown for the try, which fellow centre Jason Israel converted.

Soon afterwards, as Carlisle were pressing up the middle of the park, Hawcoat infringed at the breakdown and Israel slotted a straightforward three pointer.

With less than ten minutes played, Carlisle were 15-0 to the good but any thought Hawcoat would simply roll over was quickly squashed, as the Barrow side made use of their impressive rolling maul, which Carlisle had no answer for.

As the Carlisle try line loomed, the home side committed too many penalties and the referee lost patience and awarded a penalty try to Hawcoat.

As Carlisle tried to regain the upper hand and press forward, Hawcoat robbed the ball and with the home side exposed at the back, the visitors' wing hared down the left-hand side.

Only a fine cover tackle by Henry Wainwright stopped a certain try for the visitors, which could have changed the shape of the game.

Hawcoat continued to heap pressure on the home defence and their rolling maul always looked dangerous.

From one foray, the Hawcoat fly-half positioned himself for a fine drop goal.

Moments later, another penalty infringement gave the visitors another three points in front of the goal, and Carlisle were lucky not to lose a man to the bin, given the increasing penalty count.

With the score at 15-13, there were a lot of concerned faces among the home support, as Hawcoat were dominating proceedings, and had the momentum going forward.

Carlisle, though, managed to steady some of those nerves as a break down the middle, forced a rare Hawcoat penalty, which Israel converted to finish the half at 18-13.

As the day got darker and colder, the first part of the second half was strewn with handling errors by both sides.

It was Carlisle who eventually got the scoreboard ticking over again after an hour when a scrum on the right allowed the Carlisle pack to shove the visitors backwards and allow Wainwright to dot down for the third try.

The bonus point came from another scrum eight minutes later in front of the posts.

As the Hawcoat pack was driven back, scrum-half Matty Roper picked up from the back and ran round the visitors’ defence to score in the corner, again converted by Israel.

Roper was involved in the fifth try when he found himself on the wing with no space and he punted the ball down field into the in-goal area and Davidson won the foot race to tap the ball down before it rolled out of play.

There was just time left for one more as full-back Robbie James broke down the middle, offloaded to fly-half James Rocke, who put replacement Tom Fuller in to score a birthday try right at the end.

A willingness to attack at every opportunity paid dividends for Aspatria as they romped home 47-3 at Workington, scoring seven tries in the process.

The Zebras contested this game throughout the full 80 minutes but were simply unable to hold at bay a rampant Aspatria who move into second spot in the league but remain a distant nine points behind leaders, Carlisle.

The defeat leaves Workington anchored in the relegation zone but there was enough fight in their performance to suggest escaping the drop is not yet beyond them.

Aspatria blitzed the home side from the opening bell.

Within the first few minutes, the home side were forced into conceding three penalties and this brought on wave after wave of Aspatria attack.

The first of the tries came on five minutes from a simple forward rumble over the line, where hooker Ali Randall got the vital touch down. Jack Clegg converted.

Workington’s best spell of the game followed the Aspatria score. The Zebras showed ambition on three minutes when they spurned a good penalty opportunity to go into the corner for a catch and drive.

The attempt failed but it heralded a sustained period of pressure.

Unfortunately, Aspatria although hard up against their line, had bolted the door and Workington simply did not possess the cutting edge that might have got them a try. The attack eventually petered out but not before James Watkins had knocked over a penalty.

As the game progressed into the second quarter, Aspatria were enjoying a greater share of possession. They did not initially use this well, with sloppy handling letting them down and returning the ball to a thankful Workington.

The dam burst on 24 minutes.

Clegg robbed the ball from the arms of a Workington attacker around his own 22. This kick started a fine, flowing movement downfield, where number eight Matthew Atkinson smashed through the line of defence and then put outside centre Scott Akehurst on his way to the line. Clegg converted.

Aspatria’s shaky spell was over and, from this point, attacks from the home side were infrequent.

Aspatria added to the score on 34 minutes. The try was scored by Akehurst but he had the Aspatria forwards to thank. Atkinson combined with Greg Dickinson and Liam Ridley to break through the defence and leave Akehurst with a straightforward run to the line.

It got worse very quickly for Workington.

Immediately after the restart, left wing Jack Robinson took control of a high ball and the Aspatria back line pounced. With the Workington defence all out of position, Akehurst had a straight forward job to take the ball over the line to register his hat-trick and the try bonus point.

Only four minutes into the second period and Aspatria had a fifth try, seizing on a poor clearance out of defence and moving the ball to the right flank, where former Workington winger Scott Rooke had the gas to round the struggling defenders and finish off.

Things got harder for Workington as they lost back row Ross Cape to a yellow card and the resulting penalty allowed Aspatria to set up a catch and drive move deep in the Workington 22.

The execution was perfect with Greg Dickinson moving into the centre of the field, where he gained good yardage before being stopped. The ball zinged to the right and centre Craig Foster sent a grubber kick into the in-goal area for Rooke to chase and score.

Workington did begin to see more of the ball and, on a couple of occasions, went close to posting a try.

The home side’s best work came when they were able to get the ball into wide positions. Right winger Bede O’Connor looked particularly dangerous when in possession.

Aspatria had to wait until the 65th minute for their final try. The attack started with a patient build-up that dragged the Workington defence both left and right, before Atkinson seized his moment to bullock a way through some despairing tackles and touch down.

The crunch game in the relegation zone, between Silloth and Upper Eden, was postponed because of a frozen pitch.