BetFred League1
Workington Town 32 London Skolars 22
With five games of the regular league season remaining, Skolars remain in the play-off spots, but Workington Town narrowed the gap to one point after a late comeback.
Due to reseeding the game was played at Borough Park, home of Workington AFC. Town took an early lead when Perry Singleton ran onto a Jamie Doran chip after Doran and Stevie Scholey had both gone close. Skolars levelled soon afterwards with Judd Greenhalgh taking a crash ball over from close range, Neil Thorman converting.
Town, coached by Neil’s elder brother Chris, forced a goal-line drop-out from the kick-off, , but a pass to the left went over Scott Rooke’s head. Their next attack saw a long pass to the right just evading Jonathon Walsh’s grasp.
Skolars kept kicking early in the tackle count, trying to make Workington defend from deep, but Tyllar Mellor was well placed to take every kick and returned them well. With limited opportunites to attack the tryline, Skolars took the opportunity to take the lead through a Thorman penalty, but Workington regained the lead soon afterwards when Doran dummied, then stepped inside to brush through the defence. James Barran made a similar move to score at the other end as Skolars went in 10-14 at the break.
The lead changed hands again early in the second half after the restart, when Dec O’Donnell forced his way over. With tempers starting to flare, Skolars were down to twelve men after Barran was sin-binned for his part in a scuffle, but when O’Donnell was sent-off for lashing out in a tackle, Skolars had a real chance to take the game.
However, it was the Cumbrians that seized the initiative, dragging Lameck Juma into touch on the first tackle after the penalty. Full-back Tyllar Mellor managed to stretch down to ground the ball in the right corner despite three tacklers around him. Iliess Macani raced from his own half before being stopped ten metres from the Town tryline, but the defence couldn’t keep hold of him and he carried on over the line to score. Thorman’s conversion levelled the scores and his penalty four minutes later gave his side a narrow lead with six minutes remaining.
Town won possession from a short kick-off and Doran slipped the ball to Scholey ten metres out. Skolars threw caution to the wind on their next possession, but they lost the ball on the first tackle and Doran rounded off a victory for the home side with his second try, with Carl Forber kicking his fourth goal of the afternoon.
Coach Jermaine Coleman named himself on the bench, but did not come on, whilst injuries meant that Workington only used 15 players. It was an emotional day for Town after learning that their long-serving team manager, Brian Ritson, had died the morning of the game.
TOWN
2 Tyllar Mellor
20 Jonathan Walsh
3 Sam Hewitt
4 Perry Singleton
16 Scott Rooke
6 Jamie Doran
7 Carl Forber
25 FuiFui MoiMoi
17 Dec O’Donnell
10 Stevie Scholey
12 Gordon Maudling
11 Danny Tickle
14 Andrew Dawson
Subs:
13 Karl Olstrum (not used)
22 Sam Hopkins
15 Tom Curwen
19 Caine Barnes (not used)
Tries: Singleton (3), Doran (26.79), O’Donnell (53), Mellor *58), Scholey (75)
Goals: Forber 4/6
Sending-off: O’Donnell (55) – punching
LONDON SKOLARS
2 Iliess Macani
1 Elliot Jennings
3 Omari Caro
4 Lameck Juma
5 Mo Agoro
6 James Barran
7 Mike Bishay
18 Judd Greenhalgh
9 Neil Thorman
22 Mike Greenhalgh
12 Rob Tuliatu
11 Jordan Williams
13 Lamont Bryan
Subs
16 Liam Scott
10 Matt Ross
15 Rinaldo Palumbo
14 Jermaine Coleman (not used)
Tries: J Greenhalgh (7), Barran (31), Macani (70)
Goals: Thorman 5/5
Sin-bin: Barran (55) – punching
Penalty count: 10-3
Half-time: 10-14
Referee: Aaron Moore
Attendance: 810
SCORING SEQUENCE: 6-0, 6-6, 6-8, 10-8, 10-14, 16-14, 20-14, 20-20, 20-22, 26-22, 32-22
