Last updated at 12:05, Thursday, 02 August 2012

The Champagne has been put on ice at Derwent Park and there won’t be any corks popping until the season is over.

Martin Oglanby and Gary Charlton

Workington won promotion without kicking a ball on Sunday, Whitehaven’s victory against Rochdale making it impossible for the Lancashire outfit to catch third-placed Town.

But celebrations have been rather muted considering that the club would have taken promotion with open arms at the beginning of the season.

“We had one ultimate objective at the start of the season, and that was to get promotion,” said Town chairman Dave Bowden.

“We never thought we’d achieve it with four games remaining and I thought it was going to be a lot tighter, with six or seven teams battling for the play-off places. But in achieving promotion, we now have out sights set on bigger things.

“It would be nice to win a trophy, 60 years on from when Workington Town won the Challenge Cup, but we are under no illusions. It’s not going to be easy.

“Now the play-off position is important and I am sure that we still have some good performances left in us yet. We haven’t been playing to our full potential of late.”

Bowden praised coaches Gary Charlton and Martin Oglanby, assistant coach Craig ‘Butch’ Barker and conditioning coach Mathew Johnson.

“We’ve quite a number of local players and they have gelled well with the travellers. All the success is down to the coaches and the players. But now we have our sights set on bigger things.”

Bowden indicated that the club are looking to strengthen the squad with four regular season games and the play-offs remaining.

He added: “The squad is looking fairly light and we must cover all eventualities.”

First published at 11:26, Thursday, 02 August 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk