ZEBRAS PUT TO THE SWORD AS CRUSADERS PLUNDER VICTORY

The season remains in its' infancy, but already it is looking as though Workington are in for a challenging campaign in Cumbria League 2 as they suffered their second defeat in succession, going down 6 - 14 to Carlisle Crusaders at The Ellis.

For the opening 10 minutes, it was pretty much an evenly balanced encounter as both sides did their utmost to assert themselves, however it was Carlisle who broke the deadlock when their first serious attack stretched the Zebras rearguard and ended with Yousef Sahib charging into the corner for a try that captain Ste Benson wasted no time in converting.

But Workington recovered quickly from this and began to create their own threatening attacks, with John McCrickerd, Jonny Howarth and Bede O'Connor especially giving the visitors cause for concern and the evergreen Andrew Bowe once again rolling back the years.

When Carlisle were reduced to 14 men after a yellow card for obstruction, the chance to capitalise was there for the hosts to take. But their hard work came to nothing when they lost possession and the Crusaders punished them hard with their second try on 23 minutes as Euan Foster found space and left the defence trailing to touch down over the whitewash, leaving Benson with another simple conversion.

Again, Workington tried to get back into the game and created more dangerous surges into their opponents' half but were undone by careless handling and a Carlisle backline that remained alert and steadfast. Aside from one near scoring opportunity, which was only averted by last ditch tackling, the visitors were content to see out the first half with the score at 14 - 0.

The second half began with the Zebras determined to close the gap and they took residence in Carlisle territory and their persistence was rewarded on 49 minutes when McCrickered calmly slotted a penalty and his trusty boot again delivered 6 minutes later with another smoothly taken kick. However, he saw two further penalties fall agonisingly short, which would have reduced the deficit to only 2 points.

Once again, Workington could not turn their possession into tries and after riding the storm, Carlisle were developing inroads into Zebras' 22 as they sought to wrap up the game. This time round though, the Zebras were wise to their intentions and the visitors had to be content with closing out proceedings and maintain their 100% record.

Workington remain pointless alongside Creighton and Millom, kept only off the bottom by Creighton's inferior points difference, and take a break from league action next week as they host Egremont in the Cumbria Vase.

By John Hastings @ The ESG