It is all square in the West Cumbrian derby as Whitehaven and Workington Town are deadlocked at 6-6 at half time.

It has been a blood and guts derby encounter so far with several scuffled and some big impacts around the Recreation Ground.

It was the worst start possible for Town as they fumbled from the kick off and Haven got a scrum around 15 metres out and then the visitors made another mistake, giving away a penalty in front of their own sticks for having another go at Marc Shackley as he got up from the tackle.

Jordan Burns stepped up to take the kick and successfully slotted it between the uprights to take the lead for Haven.

Town looked to get back into the game and as they pressured the home line a high tackle on Tyllar Mellor got them another set of six 15 metres out.

And it looked as though Jonathan Walsh was over in the corner when he collected a great ball from Sean Penkywicz but the ref pulled the score back for a forward pass much to the disgust of the Town faithful.

Calvin Wellington and Stevie Scholey came close to scoring but then the final kick through was scooped up by Burns but the full-back fumbled and Town kept up the pressure but again they couldn't make it pay.

Haven picked up another penalty after about 16 minutes when a high tackle sparked an altercation between the two teams. Burns slotted it over again and Haven were 4-0 to the good.

When Dave Thompson acrobatically picked up a kick from deep from Jamie Doran, Haven heads were up again but a fumble from Callum Phillips at the play-the-ball defused any pressure on Town.

Then at the other end of the field another error halted the Workington charge as Declan O'Donnell could not hold onto a little popped pass from Doran.

After 24 minutes both teams made a big change in their packs with Fuifui Moimoi coming on to replace Scholey for Town and former coach Carl Forster replacing Kris Coward for Haven.

And it was Haven who extended their lead to 6-0 with a third penalty from the boot of Burns, this time for a bad tackle of Callum Phillips and he slotted it over from distance.

Town then went back on the attack and when a mistake in the Haven defence handed them another set of six they upped the pressure, forcing a drop-out in the end.

Another penalty went Town's way for offside but a great set of defence from Haven blocked their way and forced the error they were looking for.

As the clock ticked down to half time Town got back into the game as Haven were pulled in on the right hand side and Calvin Wellington strolled over untouched. Forber added the extras and the game was all level once more.

It was tough and uncompromising to the end but at at the break it was all square at 6-6.