Despite a great start, Workington Town allowed their hosts Hunslet to get back into this cup clash by half time with the sides deadlocked at 12-12 as the hooter sounded.

Town were forced into a reshuffle of the side with players that were available but that did not stop them as they took the battle to Hunslet from the off in the first round of the 1895 Cup.

There were some big stints in the Town side, especially skipper Ollie Wilkes and Fuifui Moimoi putting in some big minutes for their club.

And Town were rewarded for their efforts with the first try as prop Wilkes crashed over under the sticks with Carl Forber tagging on the extras.

Workington kept up the pressure and were capitalising on the errors coming out of the Hunslet side.

Then, in an almost carbon copy of the first try, it was Wilkes who bagged his second, again close to the posts and Forber kicked the two-pointer to give the visitors a 12-0 lead.

Town kept coming and it took some last gasp defence to stop Scott Rooke from touching down wide out as the visitors looked to try and extend their advantage.

But Hunslet got another set of six near the Town line as Jamie Doran looked to make the interception but could not hold on to the ball.

Hunslet looked to get off the mark as they swung the ball out to the right but then Gordon Maudling stepped in and he did make the interception and race up the field.

He made it to 35 metres from the try line before he was hauled down. Town went close with Izaac Farrell being held up over the line but they could not put any further points on in this set.

Hunslet pushed back and got another set near the Town line which they made pay as Jack Lee dummied the defence and dived over from dummy-half to get his side back in the game, Reece Dean converting.

A little kick from Doran was allowed to bounce over the line and Sean Penkywicz looked to try and get the ball down but he was pulled back for offside.

Town were then their own worst enemy as they were penalised close to their own line for lying on and Hunslet put out quick hands to the left hand side where Chris Ashton touched down. And the resulting successful kick from Dean levelled matters just before the break.

Dean tried a penalty from long distance just seconds before the break and he got the distance but it was wide of the target and the two sides went in level at the break.