Last updated at 11:47, Monday, 04 February 2013

Workington coach Gary Charlton has pledged to tread carefully with the use of dual registration players after a rousing start to life in the Championship.

Declan Hulme. Photo: Brian King (KingsPix.com)

Town came from behind to beat Swinton Lions 14-10 at Leigh Sports Village in their opening game when Widnes winger Declan Hulme scored their first try of the season.

Charlton said: “We were short of a winger so the one player we chose to use from Widnes was Declan who was able to fill that position and he performed very well.

“We want to be sure that anybody we use in this dual registration agreement is right for Workington Town. Our players have worked tremendously hard during the winter preparing for the Championship campaign and we want to be loyal to them.”

Initially Town had been offered three players from Widnes, but one of them was injured in training. Eventually the Cumbrians only asked for young winger Hulme, who had played against them for the Vikings in their pre-season friendly.

The dual registration system appears as though it might cause a few problems in the weeks ahead, depending on how the Championship coaches see fit to utilise the maximum allocation of five players.

Town, 6-0 down after 18 minutes came back to lead 12-6 at half-time and although they were only able to add a Brett Carter penalty, defended superbly to go through to a three-point victory.

“We were absolutely delighted with the performance of the team. The effort and commitment, especially in our defensive work, was outstanding and to start the campaign with an away win is a real boost.

“The squad came to play Swinton on the back of just one proper friendly but we had no worries about the fitness levels. Our conditioner Matthew Johnston has done a terrific job. He really knows what he’s on about.

“There’s a lot of work still to be done and we won’t be getting carried away, but we do have some very good players to come into the squad which will make us stronger in time,” said Charlton.

First published at 11:35, Monday, 04 February 2013
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk