Experienced centre and club captain Jason Mossop has called on his Workington Town team-mates to take dropped points personally and up their defensive game.

A dominant Town display saw them rack up 66 points against struggling Hemel Stags on Sunday, but it was the 18 points conceded which stuck in Mossop’s mind.

He said: “Obviously, it was a good result and we were clinical.

“Our goal was to go there and get the job done and we scored a lot of points but, in hindsight, we could have scored more and we still conceded 18 points, which has to improve.

“We are just gifting them soft tries and we’ve got to be a bit harsher on ourselves and take our defence personally.

“We are scoring some nice tries but I still look at the negatives and, if I miss a tackle it doesn’t matter if I score three or four tries, I’ll still be gutted about that one tackle I missed.

“We need to get that built into everybody. Our defence was good in patches but we need to do it for 80 minutes.”

Despite his frustration at the team’s defensive display, Mossop said the win would breed confidence in the squad ahead of a crucial home game against South Wales Ironmen on Sunday.

“Taking it back to a home fixture, we need to build on Sunday’s performance and obviously get another result,” he said.

“You’ve got to give them respect because, if you don’t, you can drop points easily. Although it probably looks like an easy fixture, if you turn up with that attitude, you can come undone.”