Carl Forster faces an X-ray examination on his hand after helping his Whitehaven side stretch their winning sequence to 11 games.

The player-coach played for all but 10 minutes of the 28-22 win over Keighley and had gone into it with a heavily strapped knee, legacy of a knock a week earlier against Doncaster.

But it was a problem with his hand which was giving him most concern afterwards and he will go to hospital today to have it checked out.

“When you are in the thick of the action you don’t really feel it and I didn’t notice anything much until I came off. I’m going to have it checked out,” said Forster.

But it was the team’s performance in the second half which really occupied his thoughts afterwards, as they tuned round a 12-6 half-time deficit.

“Our completion rate wasn’t good enough in the first half and that was something we had to improve – and we did.

“Keighley are a hard team to play against but I thought we did really well in the second-half and three quick tries really got us going.

“I was really pleased with the quality of tries we scored and defensively we had to cope with some strong Keighley pressure which, in the main we dealt with well.

“We had been looking forward to the Keighley game ever since we played so badly there in a pre-season game and I think today’s performance really showed how we have come on from there.

“I was pleased for Aidan Worthington, scoring his first try for the club, and I will say again lads who stick with us and are patient will get their opportunities.

“The squad is starting to look stronger now because we will have Elliott Miller back next week and hopefully Glenn Riley so the problems are going to be mine – on selection,” said the coach.

Whitehaven travel to North Wales next week before they finish the regular season with a Cumbrian derby against Barrow which is likely to decide who finishes second in the table behind Toronto Wolfpack.