Halifax 46 Workington 26: Workington Town eventually succumbed to defeat at the hands of Halifax but could walk away with their heads held high after fielding a side decimated by injuries.

Phil Veivers was only able to field 14 players on the teamsheet and the lack of rotation eventually told as Halifax overcame a plucky Town side in the final quarter.

Poors errors from Town led to the first score. With Town’s left edge at sixes and sevens, Ed Barber burst through the line to record first points.

An outstanding kick off from Jarrod Sammut forced a drop out and, from the resulting set, the enigmatic half-back produced a kick that was inch perfect for Tee Ritson to dive on in the corner in the perfect repost for the visitors.

Town had a golden opportunity to take the lead minutes later but Sammut’s wayward pass was dived on by the hosts and they were made to pay for their lack of execution as Halifax scored from range through Will Sharp.

Town continued to play with great spirit and a great hit from substitute Ryan Verlindan, helped by a trio of Town players, forced Halifax back for another drop out and from there Matty Mossop cut through the Fax line and rounded the full-back to bite back again for Workington and lock up the scores.

Verlindan then turned villain as he knocked on off the restart but Workington’s tenacity in defence was exemplified by a great tackle from Mossop, forcing the error from Halifax and extinguishing the danger.

Sammut was having an outstanding first half, as another crafty kick caused chaos in the Halifax defence, producing an offside penalty which the Australian obliged in converting to give Town a slender lead.

Halifax hit back with back-to- back scores before the break.

Barber made a break to put the supporting Elliot Harris over before a moment of controversy as Fax full-back Ben Johnston looked to have knocked on in his in goal but the officials waved play on.

And from there, the hosts went the length of the field with James Woodburn-Hall eventually touching down Gareth Moore’s neat kick through to leave Workington 10 points adrift at the break.

Town full-back Jack Murphy, who was having a strong game, was powerless to stop Woodburn-Hall just after half-time as the big centre broke through Workington’s right to record his second of the afternoon.

Things got worse for Workington as Liam McAvoy was sinbinned for lashing out in possession the visitors were down to 12 men.

Workington were not out of the game though and a great break from McAvoy bought Town precious field position before Sammut popped up again and his neat kick was eventually dotted down by Jamie Doran after the hooker had done incredibly well to steal the ball from Halifax in the in goal area.

Doran then turned provider as his fast hands gave Matty Gee room to score on the left and brought Town within a score of the hosts.

That was as good as it got though as Workington started to tire.

Marc Shakley was sin binned in the aftermath of a Luke Ambler try and from that position Halifax posted two more tries to take the game beyond doubt.

As they had done all afternoon, Workington battled on and had the final say when Declan Hulme touched down Gee’s neat kick to give some respectability to a hard fought effort from the visitors.

Halifax: Johnston, Greenwood, Woodburn-Hall, Rawsthorne, Sharp, Robinson, Moore, Cahalane, Kaye, Ambler, Barber, Bennion, Fairbank. Subs: Moore, Morris, Boyle, Nelmes

Tries: Barber (11), Sharp (20), Morris (38), Woodburn-Hall (40, 43), Ambler (66), Cahalane (72), Moore (74); Goals: Moore 7/8

Workington Town: Murphy, Hulme, Gee, Mossop, Ritson, Forber, Sammut, Walker, Doran, Gordon, Shackley, McAvoy, Scholey. Sub (used): Verlinden

Tries: Ritson (14), Mossop (26), Doran (56), Gee (62), Hulme (77); Goals: Sammut 3

Cards: Yellow - McAvoy and Shackley

Referee: T Grant

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