Returning Workington Town star Tom Curwen came in for praise after returning from a long-term injury at Hemel last weekend.

Former Seaton amateur Curwen came on off the bench in the 60-12 win in the capital.

And the strong-running prop did himself proud, with a solid showing, as he returned to pack action.

“Tom went really well considering it was his first hit-out after six months of injury,” said assistant coach Craig McDowell.

“He got a big rap from all the lads at the end of that performance and it was well deserved.

“Although I’m sure if you ask him he probably hated us for the last five minutes when he was starting to tire!

“But he adds extra size to our ever-growing pack that stands us in really good stead. It was good to have him back.”

McDowell said with players starting to return to the squad, Town were looking stronger each week.

And he admitted that it was a blow that they had no match this weekend, due to the Challenge Cup games taking precedence.

“It is a blow as you can only play what is in front of you but we had a good performance last weekend.

“We did a lot of things off the raining ground and did them right and it would have been nice to play again.

“We were aggressive in the tackle, which is something we knew we needed to be.

“And we wanted to build that continuity but with having a weekend off, it doesn’t help us.”

Town will now have another week to prepare for their trip to Coventry on May 20 when they hope to welcome even more faces back.

McDowell is confident that fans will see the return of Sean Penkywicz and also Fuifui Moimoi run out for the first time in Town colours.

“These are exciting times at Workington and hopefully we will produce the best for the fans,” he added.

“We outnumbered the Hemel fans last weekend which was fantastic. They really help the boys along and we appreciate it.”