It must be said that the journey to Workington was one of the most pleasant and picturesque ones I’ve been on for a long time. The rolling hills and on the M6 painted a beautiful, peaceful landscape on what was a fine dry day.

It was Salford’s first visit to Derwent park since 1995. For the record we were beaten that day 34-0.

Supporters were a lot more confident going in to this match with the boost of the arrival of loan players to help bolster the youthful and inexperienced seventeen.

Town had yet to win this season in the Championship but from the kick off they made a blistering start when second rower Bradley powered through some weak defence. 

Once again the physicality of the opposition caused Salford all kinds of problems. Town were well organised and had a ruthless game plan that they executed to perfection. This game plan however wasn’t rocket science, it was a simple structure with a good completion rate and very limited errors. They piled pressure on Salford at every chance especially their astute kicking game. Carter and Donaghy bosses the game in the halves and Salford fullback Matty Ross had to be brave at times to defuse the relentless kicking game. 

The hosts scored five tries before the hard working Joe Hartley got Salford on the score board right on half time with a try of his own.

 Trailing 32-4 at the break it was damage limitation in the second half. Town continued to punish Salford with their raw enthusiasm and powerful pack. Full back Galea was a handful all afternoon with ball in hand and substitute Bear Williams made a huge impact when he came on for spells. Town were well coached and conditioned leaving Salford struggling to compete.

The visitors enjoyed their best spell in the final quarter of the match. Brad Dwyer ran tirelessly from dummy half and Agnatius Passi went over for Salford’s second try which was converted by Toby Hughes.

It was another tough watch for the travelling supporters with some harsh lessons learned on the pitch again. 

Salford now have a fortnight to prepare for a daunting trip to face league leaders London Broncos in the capital. 

You can’t put ten men behind the ball in a Rugby League match like you can in football. There are no hiding places in this ruthless sport and at the moment the players are learning on the job the hard way. We can only hope for better days to come.

On a brighter note it was great to see former Workington and Salford hero Paul Charlton in the crowd looking so well.

Workington 52 Salford 10.

Paul Whiteside.

Big thanks to Steve McCormick for the photos.