Bonus point secures Town’s play-off place

Last updated 21:37, Wednesday, 20 August 2008

WORKINGTON Town secured the final play-off spot in National League Two with their 10th bonus point of the season – but lost yet another player to their growing injury list.

A close 22-14 defeat at the hands of Gateshead Thunder saw Town bag another bonus point, which was enough for them to ensure eighth place in the league.

But they lost Iain Marsh before the game even started as he pulled a hamstring in the warm-up.

This gave a late call-up to former Academy youngster Robert Scott. He came off the bench in the second half and showed promise.

“I am not too disappointed with the loss as we got the bonus point which secures our play-off place. And I think we performed well in the circumstances, with so many key men missing,” said coach Dave Rotheram.

“At 8-6 up before half-time, we gifted them back into the game with some silly errors but we also showed fighting spirit to come back from 22-8 down. We showed we won’t go away and we keep battling on.

“Robert Scott came on for his debut and he didn’t know he had the chance until about a minute before kick-off when we knew Marsh wouldn’t be playing.

“He came on in the second half and did a fantastic job on the wing, which was a bright spot for us.”

Another highlight of the game was a superb try from Stephen Dawes who sold a beautiful dummy to the Gateshead defence and flew down the wing to score.

Rotheram was delighted with one of the tries of the season, saying: “Stephen showed great skill. Carl Forber had the vision to come down the short side, then there was great centre play from Mark Routledge then Dawes dummied the full-back and went on the outside to score a great try.”

Now Town have one more league game, against Oldham next Sunday before they get a week’s break and start in on their play-off campaign.

And Rotheram believes there is still all to play for, with Doncaster, Keighley and York all possible opponents in the first round.