Workington Town officials are playing down talk of going all the way and winning the inaugural Championship Shield.

Town got the Shield programme off to a flying start on Sunday with a 30-12 home win over Batley Bulldogs and are in prime position to clinch fourth spot and a place in the semi-finals.

But coach Phil Veivers said: “I am only looking to the next game, which in our case is Hunslet away on Sunday. We won there recently but Hunslet put up a good fight and I am sure they will be tough opponents again.

“I was very pleased with the way the players performed against the Bulldogs.

“They came back from a break and were refreshed and up for the challenge.

“We had talked about how Batley would look to their big forwards to get on top of us and I was really pleased with how we started and matched them.

“Perhaps it was against the run of play when we scored but we played some good stuff after that and scored three good tries to lead 16-0.”

Vice-chairman Mark Fryer had also been cautious ahead of the game when he said: “Obviously we would love to go all the way in the competition but there’s a lot of rugby to be played before then and some tough obstacles to overcome. It would be great for our supporters if we could extend our season after the seven Super Eights in the Shield.”

Once again Australian half-back Jarrod Sammut had a key role to play in Town’s victory and picked up another Man of the Match award from the club sponsors. He scored the crucial opening try, had a hand in two others and landed two first-half conversions to help the home side set up a convincing victory.

Workington now have three more home games to play – against Featherstone Rovers, Doncaster and Whitehaven - while they must travel to Hunslet Hawks, London Broncos and Dewsbury Rams.

Crucially the win over Batley lifted Town three points clear of the Bulldogs in the battle for fourth spot, which would guarantee a place in the Shield semi-final.

Batley, Whitehaven, Hunslet and Doncaster – the four bottom sides in the Championship table – all lost their opening games in the Shield over the weekend.