Last updated at 11:45, Monday, 24 September 2012

Workington Town coach Gary Charlton forgot his disappointment at a play-off defeat to praise his depleted squad of players.

Gary Charlton

Town lost 20-0 at Doncaster to miss out on an all-Cumbrian final with Barrow Raiders next Sunday at Warrington.

But already down to the bare bones, with the only 17 available players on duty, they were reduced to 12 men when Chris Annakin was sent-off in the first minute of the second-half.

Charlton said: “I cannot knock the effort and the commitment of the players. To dominate Doncaster for most of the second-half after losing Chris took a special effort.

“The problem was that we just lacked the guile and craft to open up the Doncaster defence, and despite having so much possession and territory we couldn’t turn that into points.

“We hadn’t made a very good start and our shape was wrong on a number of occasions in the first-half. But at 10-0 down we still felt we were right in the contest. But to lose Chris in the first minute of the second-half was a killer blow. I didn’t have a good view of the incident myself but the touch judge was the one who told the referee he had seen it as a spear tackle.

“We had prepared well for the game and had gone down there with one objective – to win the game. It’s disappointing to miss out like that but as the season has reached its conclusion we’ve been hit with injuries and suspensions, so have really been down to the bare bones with nobody spare.”

However Charlton, with his fellow coaches Martin Oglanby and Craig Barker, can take consolation from the fact that they finished third in the league and achieved promotion to the Championship.

“We did what we set-out to do and now we have to plan ahead.

“There are two or three players we still have to tie up for next season and we have to look around who is available and that we can bring in. There’s no doubt that we will need strengthening to play in the Championship because it’s going to be that much tougher and we will have to see how the board can help us in that respect,” said Charlton.

First published at 11:30, Monday, 24 September 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk