It may have been Valentine's Day, but there was no hearts and flowers on show at The Eliis as Workington's burning desire of a league & cup double was clinically extinguished in the sunshine by a rampant Silloth, who booked their place in the Cumbria League Cup Final with a 33 - 12 triumph.

For the opening 20 minutes, there was little much to choose with both sides delivering plenty of driving action in midfield allied to solid, committed defence.

But it was the visitors who drew first blood on 21 minutes when a hopeful short punt forward caught the Zebras backline napping and Danny Barker was on hand to collect and touch down for a try which was converted by Workington old boy Stephen Stoddart.

Clearly stung by this, the hosts fought back with Tom Lawson and Dan Fryer both producing dangerous runs and the ever alert David Todhunter covering every blade of grass and always in the thick of the action.

But Silloth's mountainous rearguard soaked up this pressure and 10 minutes from time the Tigers doubled their lead when poor Lawson fatefully took his eye off a high ball for a split second and was left flat on the floor by the thrusting force of Ricky Sutcliffe who snaffled the ball and raced over the whitewash unopposed. Stoddart again converted.

With Silloth tightening their grip on the match, Zebras heads began to drop and on 37 minutes, they fell further behind when a well orchestrated 4 man move led to Barker racing into the corner for his 2nd try. This time Stoddart saw his conversion smack against the upright.

On the stroke of half time, Workington though they'd pulled a try back when Chris Davidson beat two Silloth players before touching down, but the referee judged that he hadn't grounded the ball - a decision which left the home support furious and in the process inspire several unromantic (and indeed, unprintable) comments.

The second half began with Zebras pressing hard, but any hopes of an unlikely comeback were put to bed on 53 minutes when a robust Silloth scrum saw Greg Wrathall tumble over the line. Stoddart once more converting.

Workington were desperate to break their duck and went close to doing so on the hour when Todhunter found a gap in Silloth's hitherto ironclad defence, but came painfully short after being brought down with the whitewash begging.

Clearly it was not destined to be Zebras' day and this got even worse on 63 minutes as Joe Kirkup sliced through the backline to sprint away for Silloth's 5th try, which Stoddart wasted no time in slotting over.

With a place in the final booked, the visitors appear to take their foot off the pedal and Workington - with only pride to play for - took full advantage by working their way back into the match, even though the match had been lost long before.

Their patience was finally awarded 10 minutes from time as James Watkins was first to grab a forward punt before crashing down in the corner for an unconverted try.

Finally, seconds before full time, Zebras were gifted a penalty try following blatant Silloth obstruction. Lee Wordsworth's conversion was the last action of the afternoon.

It is fundamentally crucial that Workington swiftly expunge this result into oblivion and solely focus on hunting down Silloth for the title, starting with a potential tricky visit to Moresby next Saturday.

By John Hastings @ The ESG

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