Dave Clark said Workington Town's 30-14 win over Newcastle Thunder on Sunday was a good start to the Super 8 phase of Kingstone Press League One and hailed the team’s response to the challenge posed by the Tynesiders.

Clark was expecting a physical test from the hosts as they packed their bench with powerful forwards and declared himself happy at Town’s response and that they reaped just reward.

He said: “I thought our mentality in the first half, knowing that Newcastle had four forwards on the bench, I think that was always going to challenge our middles and challenge us physically. So, it was nice for the boys to accept that challenge.

“We defended well through the middle and I think that set us up for the second half.

"It was a shame that Newcastle lost a player, and Young is a quality player for their attack and that forced them to make some adjustments player wise in the second half and I think we capitalised on that.

“It was encouraging to see that we stuck to what we were doing in the first half and I think moving forward in the eights, we need to be that way, we need to be confident in what we are doing and I think that was a reward for the players for doing that.”

The result at Kingston Park Stadium, coupled with Keighley’s win over Doncaster, means Workington have closed the gap to the fifth and final play-off spot to just three points but Clark insists the club will not be putting any additional focus on that fact.

“We had a bit of a chat during the week and our main focus was that everyone is starting from scratch and we said that this is a mini competition where you’ve got seven games and where you finish those games is where you finish," he added.

“We’ve got the mentality it’s not a grand final every week, we’ve got six more games to go, so let’s do our best in six games and let the ladder sort itself out. If we have the mentality of just playing each week and if we do that, then we will compete.”

The next step on the Super 8 journey sees Toronto Wolfpack visit Derwent Park off the back of a 26-16 loss to York, with Clark expecting them to respond to that upset.

“York beat us quite well a few weeks ago and I said that I thought they were the best team we’ve played against and that makes it a challenge for us next week now because there is going to be a reaction from that from Toronto," Clark said.

“For the team they’ve got and the desires they’ve got for this year, that won’t be acceptable to them and I’m sure they are going to work really hard over the week, but we’re going to be ready for them.”