Workington Preview

Bears Cumbrian travels, part 2: Workington

By Mike Hyde

Last week, the Bears made the long journey up to Cumbria to take on the League leaders, Whitehaven.

The lads put up a good fight and went in to the dressing room at half time in the lead. Sadly it didn’t last as the home side piled on the pressure in the second half.

But the performance augured well for the rest of the season, and more victories cant now be far away.

As Head Coach Tom Tsang commented after the game;‘We matched them brilliantly for 60 minutes of the game, and I continue to be encouragred by our fight and endeavour but we must start turning these strong performances into wins’

Which brings us to Workington

The Bears’ flowing, expansive and creative style coupled with the broad and lush pitch at Broadstreet gave the Bears a comprehensive 41-30 win over the Cumbrian visitors a few weeks ago.

This added to the list of ‘traditional’ Northern sides the Bears have beaten at home, but despite strong performances they haven’t yet done this away from home yet, and by definition they haven’t achieved a double over a northern side.

Could the Bears do this on Sunday?

Last August the Bears went down 40-16 at Derwent Park, but this fixture wont be held there, but at Borough Park, where they used to play.

So will they be unsettled by the venue change or buoyed by this return to their roots?

And will the Bears feel the loss of their talismanic Aussie Nick Newman, who signed for Newcastle Thunder midweek, or will they be boosted by having eight of their squad selected for the forthcoming student internationals?

So theres a lot of factors to consider, Sunday certainly looks interesting.