Workington extended their winning run in to 12 on the spin as they maintained their promotion hopes in Cumbria League Two as they overcame a resolute Furness 17 - 0 in atrociously wet and freezing conditions at The Ellis.

It took 12 minutes for the Zebras to open their account with an unconverted try when a procession of scrums into Furness' 22 climaxed with evergreen captain Andrew Bowe once more rolling back the years with a sharp, thunderous charge followed by his signature crashdown over the whitewash.

Furness raised their game and started to make progress into Zebras territory couldn't find a way through the efficiently steadfast Workington rearguard and having soaked up the pressure, it was the Zebras who laid the sucker punch on 20 minutes when they doubled their lead with their 2nd unconverted try as Grant Reid finished off a well drilled pass and move play before slicing through the Furness ranks to charge home into the corner.

For the rest of the first half, the torrential rain meant that both sides were restricted to cancelling out each other in midfield with knock-ons and handling errors becoming more frequent as the downpour came down faster and harder.

The second half was pretty much the same old story action wise and the handling errors were not only becoming more frequent but were also at times unintentionally comical - however, none came even remotely close to being costly for either side.

It was looking as though Furness were gaining the upper hand as the game wore on as they gradually began to make inroads in Workington's half but again were undone by the hosts' trenchant defensive cordon.

After riding this particular storm, the Zebras hit back to effectively seal victory on 65 minutes when more powerful set scrummaging led to Chris Stringer charging with the ruck to touch down for the 3rd try of the afternoon. Having been painfully short with his two previous attempts, Sam Robinson made it 3rd time lucky as his conversion easily went over.

Workington had a few chances to clinch a bonus point but were given a taste of their own medicine as Furness refused to surrender by producing their own solid, impregnable resistance to frustrate their hosts and close out the game with pride intact.

It was a hard slog amid the lousy conditions but at the end of the day, a win is a win and that is good enough for Workington and they will hope to keep the run going when Millom visit The Ellis on 9th February.

By John Hastings @ The ESG