James Roberts reports from The Shay

Last updated 12:10, Monday, 03 March 2008

WORKINGTON must have feared the worst when they travelled down the M6 yesterday morning for what was always going to be a daunting Northern Rail Cup assignment.

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Record breakers: Halifax (in blue) on their way to a 16-try mauling of Town yesterday. The 88-6 scoreline was the biggest victory in the club’s history

Northern Rail Cup: Halifax 88, Workington Town 6

The omens were not good. A patched up, makeshift Town side pitting their wits against arguably the form team of the National Leagues.

But it is doubtful whether things turned out this bad, even in their worst nightmares.

On a cold, windy West Yorkshire afternoon, Workington were simply swamped by a Halifax side playing with real confidence.

This 16-try caning was Halifax's biggest ever win, both in terms of the points scored and the margin of

victory, and underlined what a creditable result Town achieved on the opening day of the season when they held their opponents for almost half the game before slipping to a relatively narrow loss at Derwent Park.

Dave Rotheram's side were out of the contest inside the opening 10 minutes, by which time the home team had posted four tries - two to Australian full-back Shad Royston and one each for wingers Damian Gibson and Lee Patterson - with stand off Graham Holroyd, Town's tormentor in chief, booting the first three of his eventual 12 conversions.

That made it 22-0, effectively reducing Town to damage limitation before they had even got their hands on the ball for any significant length of time.

It wasn't a case of Workington not turning up; not showing the kind of enthusiasm and energy they needed.

With hooker Shaun Lunt leading the way with an all action display, closely followed by his brother Rob at loose forward, Town never threw the towel in.

But there is a gulf in class and finances between the top end of National League One, which is where Halifax will undoubtedly dwell in 2008, and Town's position in National League Two.

That chasm was emphasised by a glance at Halifax's packed dugout, where the likes of star centre Jon Goddard, who made 20 Super League appearances for Hull KR last season, former Leigh playmaker Mick Govin, club captain Paul Southern and classy back rower David Larder sat twiddling their thumbs as coach Matt Calland gave them the weekend off.

That is the kind of luxury that Rotheram must dream of, emphasising that while this was a painful lesson in the harsh realities of rugby league life, it need not have any long term bearing on the success or otherwise of Town's season.

After that horror opening, the first half was a tale of disaster, alleviated only by Franco Kmet's well taken try five minutes before half time, half back Carl Forber kicking the conversion as Town at least got on the scoreboard.

Halifax led 46-6 by the interval, with Miles Greenwood, Patterson and centre James Haley all crossing, with Patterson also being awarded a penalty try on the stroke of half time after rookie wingman Andy Todd had hauled the Halifax player down as he homed in on Holroyd's kick through.

Town stepped up their resistance in the early minutes of the second half, but once Mike Ratu, the on loan Leeds Rhinos centre, had stormed in for Halifax's ninth touchdown in the 47th minute, the floodgates reopened.

Patterson, Sean Penkywicz, Holroyd, Gibson, Ratu and Richard Varkulis all punished Town's outgunned defence, before Haley put the final nail in the coffin with a final-minute score straight from a scrum on the Town 30 metre line.

MATCH FACTS

Halifax: Shad Royston; Lee Patterson, James Haley, Mike Ratu, Damian Gibson; Graham Holroyd, Miles Greenwood; Dana Wilson, Sean Penkywicz, Craig Kopczak, Andy Gorski, Richard Varkulis, Paul Smith. Subs: Damian Ball, Matthew Bottom, James Fairbank, Frank Watene.

Tries: Royston (2), Patterson (4), Haley (2), Ratu (2), Gibson (2), Holroyd, Greenwood, Penkywicz, Varkulis

Goals: Holroyd (12)

Workington: Mark McCully; Andrew Todd, Iain Marsh, Jason Mossop, Martin Wilson; Tyrone Dalton, Carl Forber; Dean Burgess, Shaun Lunt, Jamie Beaumont, Franco Kmet, Ryan Campbell, Rob Lunt. Subs: Scott Gorman, Peter Dobson,Kris Coward, Taani Lavulavu.

Tries: Kmet

Goal: Forber

Attendance: 1,323

Star Man: Shaun Lunt