ZEBRAS DRAW STING FROM WASPS TO GRIND OUT VICTORY

It is now four wins on the bounce for Workington as they overcame testing conditions and an equally resolute Cockermouth team to pull off a tense 12 - 5 success at The Ellis that moves them up to joint leadership of the Cumbria League.

The first half started very cagily with most of the action taking place in the middle, but slowly the Zebras began to make inroads into Cockermouth territory. However, the Wasps' defence was well drilled and ever present to potential danger.

On 20 minutes, Workington were dealt a blow when captain Andrew Bowe was sin binned for an infringement and Cockermouth took advantage of the extra man to open the scoring 5 minutes later when they found space on the flank and went in the corner for an unconverted try.

With the reappearance of Bowe into play, cohesion and confidence was restored to the Zebras and although action was once again largely confined to midfield, Workington probed their opponents on a few occasions with Rob Scott and Jonny Howarth producing threatening surges while Neil Hastings and David Todhunter both rolled back the years as they covered every blade of grass with their tireless play.

Then two minutes from time their patience was rewarded when Matt Gorley polished off a string of fine passing moves to score into the corner. As the conversion was missed, both sides went into half time with scores level.

For the opening ten minutes of the second half, it was evenly poised with both sides again dominating the centre ground but then Cockermouth were left floundering by a high ball that bounced kindly for Todhunter who swiftly offloaded the ball to Shaun Murphy and he bulldozed his way through and scored between the posts with Lawson easily converting.

With the arrival of more wind and rain, action was at a premium as midfield domination once more prevailed. Just as Cockermouth were determined to get back into the game, so Workington were firmly committed to protecting their hard fought lead.

On 67 minutes, the Zebras were down to 14 men for the second time as Scott saw yellow for his indiscretion. But this time round, Workington were focused enough to resist everything Cockermouth could throw at them and apart from one last "smash and grab" drive from the visitors in stoppage time they managed to close out the game and secure victory.

Next week, it's League Cup action as Workington visit Egremont.

By John Hastings @ The ESG