Dave Clark felt Workington Town left themselves too much to do after the first half as they went down 36-14 in yesterday’s Cumbrian derby away to Barrow Raiders.

Town found themselves 18 points down after 24 minutes as they were made to pay the price for a number of handling errors and lapses in discipline.

It was a bruising encounter which saw both teams have two men sin-binned and, although Town did manage to score tries through Gabriel Fell, Brett Phillips and Teel Ritson, there was to be no joy for head coach Clarke against his former club.

“It was always going to be physical,” said Clark. “I just thought, in the first 25 minutes, we didn’t give ourselves a chance.

“Of our penalties, I think three came in the second tackle on their exit. So, field position-wise, we just let them out of their half.

“We couldn’t put enough pressure on them defensively and turned over the ball inside our half on exit. Our completions were good in the first half, but we didn’t have the ball.

“We said before the game we needed 50 per cent of the ball to compete, but we couldn’t do that due to our ill-discipline.”

Workington’s cause was not helped by Macauley Davies being sent off on 56 minutes for a nasty-looking high-tackle on Barrow hooker Dan Abram, who was also shown a yellow card.

And Clarke had no complaints about referee Steve Race’s decision to dismiss the dual-registered Wigan Warriors second row.

“It’s deserved if it’s high and connects with his head,” said Clarke.

“Our players know what’s a red card and what isn’t, so if it’s a red card I’ve got no issues with it. That’s life and that’s the game.”

The defeat all but ends Workington’s hopes of reaching the Kingstone Press League One play-offs and, with it, their ambitions of going back up to the Championship after being relegated last year.

But Clark has plenty of cause for optimism after rebuilding the squad over the winter and is aiming to end the campaign on a high to give Town plenty to build on in the off-season.

“We know where we are regarding the club,” said Clark. “Moving forward, the club have learnt a lot from this year and I’ve learnt a lot regarding our squad and our mentality.”