Workington Town boss Phil Veivers has paid tribute to star half-back Carl Forber who took to the field last weekend only moments after learning of his grandfather's death.

Forber insisted he wanted to play in his grandfather's memory, against Sheffield last Sunday.

And Veivers  was full of admiration for the stand-off, who kicked two conversions in the 42-12 defeat at the hands of the Eagles.

"Carl was in the middle of his warm-up when I had to pull him aside and tell him his grandad had died," explained Veivers.

"I gave him the option but he wanted to play. He was adamant he wanted to play in memory of his grandad.

"This was massive from him. We are a pretty tight squad and he didn't want to let his team-mates down or his family.

"I thought it was massive that he played on despite what he was going through."

Town went under in the opening Championship game and Veivers indicated their defence was under scrutiny.

This Sunday they head to Dewsbury Rams hoping to forget the Sheffield loss and start afresh.

"I thought it was a very dismal display from the boys on Sunday and we have now addressed the situation and we are aware of the shortfalls," said Veivers.

"There were a lot of defensive issues and we had a very physical session on Tuesday night to rectify this.

"The session was all about tightening up the middle of the ruck."

Veivers is waiting to check on the fitness of three players who took slight knocks in the Eagles clash.

Karl Olstrom, Brett Carter and Oliver Gordon will all be assessed before Veivers names his final squad to travel to Dewsbury.

But, other than forward Marc Shackley hoping to return, Veivers looks set to name a similar squad to last weekend.

There are still a further six players on the injury list, including Jarrod Sammut and Jarrad Stack, who are both another couple of weeks away from a return.

"I don't have any avenues to make wholesale changes and I am not one to do that after just one game," said Veivers. "The guys need to get a chance to redeem themselves."