Workington Town’s Championship season came to an abrupt end at Championship Shield League winners Featherstone Rovers.

A weakened Town went down 52-14 in West Yorkshire but head coach Phil Vievers was full of praise for his patched-up side that picked itself up from a 28-4 half-time deficit to take the game to the home side in the second period.

“Jarrad Stack was hobbling about on one leg at the end and Tom Walker took a knock after a great run and had to come off,” said Veivers.

“It was a pity because he’d gone 40 yards and, if he’d spotted Jarrod Sammut outside him, the try was on.

“Young Tee Ritson had a great break too in which he created Sammut’s try.”

Veivers said he was consistently rejigging his side to cover the lack of interchange options. He had to move Jack Murphy to the wing at one time so makeshift flanker Karl Olstrom could come inside to bolster the pack, while Sammut was flitting between half-back and full-back.

“The ball was being turned over much too often, leading to energy being sapped out of us in defending,” he added.

“That was the last thing we needed in view of our weakened squad.”

Veivers refused to comment on the absences caused by the unavailabilities due to a Las Vegas holiday, however, and focused more on the positives from the game, saying the fight shown bodes well for next season.

Finishing where they did was quite an achievement and only clubs with a much bigger playing budget finished above them.

  • Garry Schofield and Brett Kenny, who has travelled from Australia to support Schofield’s Testimonial, will be guests at Town’s vice-president's evening on Friday.

A few tickets are still available for the event (7pm for 7.30pm) which includes a meal, guest speakers and fund-raising.

The price of a ticket is £20 and all interested can call Tony Boyd on 07850 552229, Barry Scholey on 07739461383, or the Workington Town offices on 01900 603609.