Workington Town withstood a late Hunslet Hawks fightback to win 22-18, marking their second win at South Leeds Stadium in three weeks and their fifth win in a row.

Town started strongly, scoring in the first minute through Brett Carter but Hunslet then took the lead with a try from Danny Grimshaw to go 6-4 up.

Phil Veivers’ side then scored three tries in the five minutes before half-time to go 22-6 ahead.

Scott Akehurst scored his first try for the club and that was quickly followed by Brett Phillips’ effort.

Perry Whiteley then marked his return to the side with a try just before the break to put some daylight between the two teams.

The home side, facing the threat of relegation to League One, refused to give in and their revival coincided with star man Jarrod Sammut leaving the field with a dead leg.

They scored two tries through former Super League winger Richie Barnett to set up a nervy finish, but Town’s defence held firm and they managed to pick up their fifth consecutive win.

If they were guilty of starting slowly three weeks ago, they certainly made up for it this time round.

Liam McAvoy forced a knock-on from Houston giving Town a scrum on Hunslet’s 10.

Three tackles later they moved the ball out to the right and Carter evaded a tackle from Barnett as winger tried to force him into touch.

Carter had a lot of work to do but managed to force his way over the line from five metres out to put Town 4-0 ahead.

Despite the early score, Town were unable to capitalise and further add to the scoreboard and they were punished as Hunslet took the lead through Grimshaw.

Mo Agoro broke through Town’s defence to set his side up inside the Workington half.

On the last tackle, Danny Brown chipped over the top for Grimshaw who collected the ball and bounced off a defender to score next to the posts.

Brown then converted to give the Hawks a 6-4 lead.

There was a lull in the game as both sides failed to take advantage of field position but Town ran rampant before the break scoring three tries in five minutes.

Sammut was the architect as he kicked a grubber which was spilled by Watson and the ball popped up into the hands of Akehurst who went over to score his first try for Workington.

Their next try was almost a carbon copy as another Sammut kick was poor handled and the half-back regained possession before offloading to Brett Phillips who dived for the line.

Then, with Town’s next possession, Sammut made a break and kicked ahead in an attempt to beat Watson and Whiteley, running in support, was first to the ball and he scored under the posts.

Forber kicked two conversions to give Town a commanding 22-6 lead at the break.

Town started the second half strongly, forcing a drop-out with their first possession but they couldn’t make their field position pay as Mossop tried to dive for the line on the last tackle but was stopped short.

Hunslet’s Liam Mackay then knocked-on to give Town a scrum 20 metres from the Hawks’ line but on the first tackle Workington themselves knocked-on to give the home side the ball back straight away.

Town were then hit by a huge blow as Sammut limped off the field.

Despite the loss of their star half-back, Town seemed to be making in-roads as Forber and Doran combined well in the halves.

They set up a sweeping move from left to right and Town looked as though they had an overlap but Mossop’s final pass was intercepted by Barnett who ran the length of the field to bring Hunslet to within 10 points after scoring under the posts.

Hunslet then threatened to score again after winning their first penalty of the day.

They moved the ball quickly from left to right and had a three-man overlap on the wing but a final offload to Watson was knocked-on by the Hawks full-back with the line in his sights.

Town were then penalised for a strip and had to contend with Hunslet’s attack as they defended in their own 20.

A Hawks move looked to have come to a grinding halt as Danny Ansell lost control of the ball backwards but he kicked to the left-hand corner and Barnett was first to react as he regained possession and planted the ball down for a score in mid-air.

The conversion was on the touchline but Brown made no mistake and brought his side to within four points with a quarter-of-an-hour left to play.

In the last few minutes of the game Town gave away a couple of penalties deep in their half and Hunslet caught white line fever as they attempted two dives from dummy-half but couldn’t break through Town’s defence.

A couple of plays later Town forced a knock-on which secured them possession and the two points as they ran out the game and moved three points clear ahead of local rivals Whitehaven in the race for fourth place.

Town: Forrester, Miller, Mossop, Akehurst, Carter; Doran, Sammut; Coward, C Phillips, Shackley, B Phillips, Stack, McAvoy. Subs: Whiteley, Olstrom, Walker, Forber.

Attendance: 567.

TOM CARLISLE