ZEBRAS FEAST ON 8 TRY EASTER BANQUET AS CRUSADERS ARE PUT TO THE SWORD

Defying the chilly conditions, Workington produced a red hot display as they proved too much for Carlisle Crusaders with a comprehensive 54 - 10 triumph at The Ellis to complete their home fixtures in the Cumbria League.

After conceding an unconverted try to Carlisle after five minutes, the Zebras recovered quickly and went into the lead four minutes later with John McCrickerd powering his way through to touch down and Sam Robinson adding the conversion.

Workington continued to dominate and on 18 minutes increased their lead when a deliberate knock on by the visitors resulted in a penalty try being awarded. But two minutes later, Carlisle scored their second try after winning a line out and exploiting hesitancy in the Zebras defence by finding space to score another unconverted try.

It was pretty much even for the following ten minutes or so as both sides restricted each other in midfield but Workington gradually stepped up a level and eventually got their reward five minutes from time as Mark Murphy broke clear to go under the posts and score, with Robinson again converting.

The second half was six minutes old when the Zebras banked their 9th Bonus Point of the season following a successful line out which culminated in Grant Reid going over the whitewash and another conversion from Robinson.

Workington's next try ten minutes later was created from another winning line out and this time it was Andrew Bowe who was on hand to finish the job with his signature "crashdown" try. Once again, Robinson effortlessly converted.

By this time, Carlisle were consistently being swamped as the Zebras launched wave after wave of attacks and on the hour, it was Robinson turn to help himself to a try as he took advantage of slack marking to breeze through, though he was unlucky to see his conversion fall just short.

Five minutes later came the "champagne moment" of the match as David Todhunter surprised the opposition with a sudden burst of pace to leave them grasping thin air as he waltzed home to score a rare, but well deserved try. This time round, Robinson made no mistake with his conversion.

Credit where it is due to Carlisle as despite the onslaught, they never caved in and for a while managed to stifle the Zebras with a courageous rearguard action that prevented at least three more tries.

But the resistance eventually cracked as Workington were determined to complete the half century and three minutes from time did just that when Todhunter again burst clear and offloaded the ball to Chris Stringer, who raced into the corner to score the 8th try of a highly productive afternoon and the ever reliable Robinson once more added the conversion.

Workington remain in 5th place six points behind Furness, whom they visit next week.

By John Hastings @ The ESG