Workington Town boss Chris Thorman will drill into his players that they must keep their concentration for 80 minutes to come away from Newcastle with a fourth consecutive win on Sunday (3pm kick-off).

Town were impressive with and without the ball in their League 1 opener at home to Keighley Cougars, running in five tries and conceding just one as the intensity dropped with the game won late on.

But those six points conceded irked Thorman and, although he was very happy with the way his team defended for 79 minutes, staying focused for the whole game regardless of the score is something he intends to make sure of on the trip to Thunder this weekend.

“There was a lot of good stuff against Keighley and I was disappointed to concede in the last few minutes,” he said. “I think it came off a run of four consecutive penalties on our try line and if you do that too many times, eventually they will crack so I was a little bit disappointed with that.

“That’s probably me being hypercritical because I did think we were very good in all aspects defensively.

“I thought our intensity dropped a little bit in the last 20 minutes of the game and that is something I will be drilling into them; not to allow that to happen because if we want to go to Newcastle and beat them, we have got to play well for 80 minutes.

“We want to leave very little to chance and make sure everybody understands their role, and they are doing that.”

Town have now beaten West Bowling and Doncaster in the Challenge Cup and Keighley in league action to make a perfect start to the season.

And while back-to-back wins against League 1 opposition bodes well for their prospects this season, Thorman expects the trip to Kingston Park to be the best acid test yet of how his side are shaping up.

He added: “To play away from home will be a different challenge and against a team that have invested a lot of money into their squad and are probably the favourites for the competition.

“We will get a good marker as to how we’re doing.”