Hanley's Donny sent packing
Last updated 20:48, Saturday, 17 May 2008
Workington Town’s stunning 32-10 win over unbeaten NL2 hotshots Doncaster last night was hailed as a potential turning point for their season by jubilant boss Dave Rotheram.
Ellery Hanley’s side had conceded a miserly 74 points in their opening six league wins, but they were sliced open five times for tries by a Town outfit that had won only one from seven, hooker Shaun Lunt leading the way with a brace.
“Hopefully it’s onwards and upwards from here on,” Rotheram said. “We had a really great attitude from the first whistle.
“It wasn’t that the players were fitter or more skilful than we have been, but we had a will to win. This win has been coming since the final whistle at Barrow.”
Rotheram admitted the players had been stung by the heavy 66-6 defeat at Craven Park in their previous match almost two weeks earlier.
“We didn’t lay in to them after the Barrow game, we were really positive,” he added. “We just said let’s start our season again, that we had 15 games left, let’s win two out of each three. The first one is now out of the way. It was just what we needed against a good side like that.”
Rotheram labelled Lunt a “freak of nature” for his energetic performance on his return from a back problem.
“Any sniff of a quick play-the-ball or offload and he’s gone,” the coach said.
“Give him an inch and he takes the yards. He ran riot from dummy-half and was head-and-shoulders above anyone else on the field.”
Rotheram is confident that a play-off place is still well within Town’s grasp in what is shaping up to be a congested mid-table.
They were without off-season signings Mark McCulley and Iain Marsh last night, as well as key loose-forward Robert Lunt.
