A tough task faces Phil Veivers Workington Town as they welcome Richard Marshall’s Halifax side to the Zebra Claims Stadium on Sunday afternoon (3pm.) Both sides were in game that were close at half time in their last fixtures but ended up on the back of heavy scorelines.
Town were leading 10-8 at Dewsbury last sunday but couldn’t match their first half effort in the second half and conceded four tries in 15 minutes without reply to eventually lose 38-16. Halifax’s game against Sheffield was pointless at the break, but Sheffield scored four tries in eight second half minutes to blow the game wide open and their opponents away. A shell-shocked fax side struggled to cope with their opponents in the opening stages of the second half and never looked like mounting a comeback.
Halifax have won seven of their last eight fixtures over Workington stretching back nearly 14 years including a 88-6 victory at the Shay back in March 2008. The only fixture where Town weren’t defeated was back in May 2014 when there was a 20-20 draw at Zebra Claims Stadium. A late Carl Forber penalty was the draw snatcher on the day.
It will be a heavy pitch up in West Cumbria which should slow the game down as it will become a mudbath and with the forecast a poor one it will level the playing field a little bit more.
Phil Veivers was quoted in the local press this week as saying his side are lacking belief that they can beat the top sides in the division, “I think the players realise they can compete with the majority of sides but it is about how smart they are.” while speaking to local publication Times & Star. He will be hoping his side can be smarter this week and grab their first win of the season.
Workington’s 19 man squad – J Murphy, Forrester, Hulme, Mossop, Carter, Forber, Doran, Coward, Mattinson, Shackley, B Phillips, McAvoy, C Phillips, Olstrum, Whiteley, Gordon, Scholey, Rooney, Ritson
Halifax’s 19 man squad – Ambler, Barber, Cahalane, Divorty, Eccleston, Fairbank, Heaton, Johnston, Kaye, Maneely, Manning, G Moore, R Moore, Murrell, A Robinson, Saltonstall, Sharp, Tangata, Tyrer
