NINE IN A ROW AS ZEBRAS GRIND OUT DOGGED VICTORY

Workington maintained their promotion credentials as they reeled off their ninth successive win by overcoming a resolute Egremont 28 - 25 at The Ellis to cement their grip on second in Cumbria League Two.

Right from kick off, the Zebras were the most likely to score first and on two minutes did so when a winning line out produced a succession of scrummaging that ended with Jack Todhunter thrusting himself over the whitewash.

Sam Robinson added the conversion and his trusty boot was on hand again eight minutes later to double the lead following a nifty shimmy from Tom Lawson saw him break free and deliver a sharp solo run before offloading to Andrew McCrickerd who wasted no time in touching down.

At 14 - 0 up, it looked as if a landslide romp was on the cards - however, not only did Egremont not read the script, they absolutely shredded it as they flattened Workington with two tries in as many minutes to draw level.

First on 16 minutes a nifty pass and move surge stretched the Zebras to leave a gap allowing Fraser McNee to burrow his way into the corner and then from the restart, the visitors tormented their hosts with more probing surges before a clever high punt was collected by Jordan Crickett who left his opponents flailing as he cruised between the posts to score. Both conversions were dispatched by Billy Thompson.

With the score now at 14 apiece, the match was evenly poised as both sides produced a lot of action in the middle with a string of bristling scrums and whilst there were several scoring chances at both ends as well, the good work from was undone either by solid, stubborn rearguard action or several handling errors and careless knock ons. Egremont did have the chance to go ahead on the half hour, but Thompson saw his penalty fall painfully shy of the posts and so both sides went in at half time with the score unchanged.

It was Egremont who broke the deadlock three minutes into the second half when Thompson atoned for his earlier miss with a finely taken penalty, but it merely prodded the Zebras into action as from the restart they launched a blanket swamp into their opponents' half and their dominance was rewarded on 48 minutes when successive scrummaging proved too much for Egremont and the referee awarded a penalty try for dangerous play in the scrum

Egremont were not to denied as they began to lay siege into Zebras territory and their doughty persistence eventually paid off on the hour with another penalty from Thompson.

With the score now 21 - 20 in Workington's favour, the game was by this time bubbling along nicely like a well prepared soup du jour as both sides began to open up more, if not quite throw caution to the wind

But with Lawson, Jonny Howarth and Scott Campbell in particular in full throe of the action, it was the Zebras who slowly turned up the heat with more well drilled scrummaging and on 68 minutes were awarded another penalty try when a blatant Egremont high tackle thwarted an almost certain score. To rub salt into fresh wounds, the visitors were punished for this infringement with a yellow card for the culprit.

With a bonus point under lock and key, Workington were eager to see out the game, but Egremont refused to buckle and having already perfomed one smash and grab job at The Ellis in the Cumbria Vase last Autumn, they were determined to produce an encore mission and when the Zebras were reduced to 14 men for ruck manhandling, they grabbed their chance four minutes from time as Adam Barton carved the defence open to nip into the corner for the visitors' third try of the day.

However, Stephens' conversion attempt fell short of the posts and Workington found one more squirt of energy to close out proceedings to shade a hard fought encounter, though credit goes to Egremont for their contribution whilst making a mockery of their lowly position in the league.

By John Hastings @ The ESG.