The little things made a big difference for Workington Town in their 30-14 win over Newcastle Thunder, believes hooker Stuart Howarth.

Town had suffered defeat at the hands of Thunder twice during the regular season but Sunday’s game at Kingston Park was a different proposition, with the visitors holding Newcastle 14-14 at half-time before taking control in the second half to run out comfortable winners.

Gabe Fell, Joe Hambley and Macauley Davies bagged braces in the victory, which brought Town within three points of the fifth and final play-off spot.

Howarth told the News & Star : “It was a good win, we were really happy to get one back over them.

“We got back to what we’re best at: carrying the ball well, kicking long and chasing hard.

“We did the small things a lot better than we have been in the last few weeks.

“I was happy with how I played but I was more happy with getting the win as a team.”

The victory will give Workington confidence ahead of a challenging fixture at home to Toronto on Sunday (3pm kick-off) and Howarth admitted York’s shock win over the Wolfpack in the 8s has also given them hope.

The Knights made history by ending Toronto’s perfect record with a remarkable 26-16 victory at Bootham Crescent.

“I think we’re changing our mindset a bit – they’re not invincible,” Howarth said.

“They are just another rugby team so we’ll go out there and have a real crack at them like York did.

“We’re going to take each game as it comes.

“We are confident – the problem has been that we’ve beaten ourselves.

“Our second-half performances have been terrible at times but we came out and really were much better in the second half than we were in the first.”