Workington Town Match Report
Bears Brad Delaney
Coventry Bears v Workington Town
MIKE HYDE, Butts Park Arena, Sunday 25th June 3pm Kickoff
Coventry Bears 28 Workington Town 29
Last gasp agony for the Bears. Again.
In one of the closest encounters of the season, a pluckyCoventry Bears team, who surprisingly have yet to gain their first ever victory against a traditional Northern side, came agonisingly close to a historic victory. And this after losing in the last play of the ball the previous week.
There was a decidedly youthful feel to the 571 crowd,the Bears highest of the season as the game followed on from a Rugby LeagueDevelopment event.
Workington kicked off and were determined to stamp their mark on the game, and with barely five minutes on the clock were 4-0 up thanks to a spectacular dive by Joe Hanley on the far right, following a kick during early sustained pressure.
Many in the crowd as well as on the pitch felt this was from a forward pass, but the referee was adamant it was a try.
Then with just nine minutes gone, Gordon Maudling doubledTown’s lead and Carl Forber made easy work of the conversion this time.
Next on the scoresheet was Town’s Joseph Hambley, again following on from a well- placed kick.
Jamie Doran was next to get on the scoresheet for the visitorsas he weaved through a seemingly transfixed Coventry defence.
With both these tries being converted the score was already at 0-22 and the game was only midway through the first half.
However, Coventry were not going to give in, and took a clever short kick to restart to surprise Workington, then two quick passes in succession and Delaney was over, but surprisingly failed to convert his own try.
The comeback wassurely on as Mikey Russell pulled another back a couple of minutes before half time.
The Bears were in the ascendency after a poor first twenty minutes and went into the dressing room with a substantially reduced deficit.
Half time 10-22
The second half began and still the Coventry comeback continued as the home side came out even more determined and within three minutes, Harry Chapman scored, and Delaney converted to make it 16-22.
Battering rams Jack Morrison and new loan signing Brad Brennan gained yardage and intelligent and skilful play from the likes of Russell and Delaney combined to spell danger to the Cumbrians.
Town were now on the ropes and knew they had to do something fast in reply.
This came in the guise of their new loan signing DanyalRasool getting on the end of a lucky bounce and crossingover. Lucky for Workington that is, but a bitter pill for resurgent Coventry to swallow.
But soon Workington were down to 12 men following a sin -binning, once again allowing the Bears back into the game as Mikey Russell scored his second.
Delaney made no mistake with the conversion.
Then on 58 minutes, Bears’ Hayden Freeman added to the home sides tally and Delaney’s conversion put the score at 28-28.
This brought out a strong response from Town, and they pressed harder and harder, camping in the home sides halfwith Perry Singleton almost getting a try, but being held up over the line by a resolute defence. Coventry breathed again.
Minutes later,following a kick on the last tackle, Bears Harry Chapman was caught in possession behind his own line and surrendered a dropout.
More pressure followed, but to no avail, this was a stalemate, exciting for the fans but nerve racking for the coaches. There was now no way through the Coventry defence.
Only a drop goal now could separate the two sides, and after Delaney tried his luck for the home side, it was Town’s Carl Forber whose drop kick went between the posts at the other end.
Still the match was not over and Town once again had to dig deepto keep the Bears at bay.
The hooter finally brought relief from battle, with two evenly matched sides having given their allin front of an appreciative crowd, who went away with a lot to talk about.
Final Score Coventry Bears 28 Workington Town 29
Match Facts and stats;
Coventry Bears
1 Harry Chapman
2Mikey Russell
3Jason Bass
4Charlie O’Mara
5JamahlHunte
6[20] Billy Gaylor
7 Brad Delaney
8 James Guertjens
9Richie Hughes
10Alex Beddows
11 Kieran Sherratt
12[24] Paddy Jones
13[18] Matt Reid
I14 Hayden Freeman
15 [23]JohnAldred
16[17] Brad Brennan
17[10] JackMorrison
Tries;Delaney [24] Russell [36, 56] Chapman [43] Freeman [59]
Goals; Delaney 4/5
Workington Town
1 [3] Gabriel Fell
2 Joseph Hambley
3 [9]Danyal Rasool
4 Jason Mossop
5 [17] Scott Rooke
6 Carl Forber
7 [14] Jamie Doran
8 [15] Tom Curwen
9 [16] Stuart Howarth
10 [23]Joseph Ryan
11Brett Phillips
12 [25] Gordon Maudling
13Perry Singleton
14Joe Prior
15 [5] Liam Byrne
16 [18] Conor Fitzsimmons
17 [20 Jacob Moore
Tries:Hanley [4,16] Maudling [9] Doran [20] Rasool [44]
Goals:Forber 4/5
Drop Goal; Forber
Sinbin Rasool
Penalty Count:7;9
Half Time:10-22
Referee:C Smith
Attendance: 573
Scoring Sequence
0-4, 0-10, 0-16, 0-22, 4-22, 10-22
16-22, 16-28, 22-28, 28-28, 28-29