MATCH REPORT: MIDLANDS HURRICANES 34-22 WORKINGTON TOWN

Canes blow away Town to earn a historic double at The Alex

After just over two months and six consecutive away games, the Hurricanes found themselves back at The Alexander Stadium as hosts to then fifth-placed Workington Town. The Canes had already taken two points back to The Alex from the Fibrus Community Stadium three months earlier for the first time, but the home side had yet to taste a double over Workington. The Canes were also coming in off the back of three successive defeats to Rochdale, Keighley and Oldham, whereas the visitors had enjoyed away victories over Cornwall and Hunslet before recently succumbing to a narrow home defeat to fellow play-off contenders North Wales Crusaders.

From the outset the Canes knew they would be doing it tough, with new signing Jake Mamo and regular feature Ryan Johnson both ruled out through illness. One of those stepping into the breach at the last minute was youngster Harry Higham, son of former England and Great Britain hooker Micky Higham, who went on to make a professional debut we suspect he won’t forget in a hurry!

The Canes opened the scoring on four minutes after an early penalty for a high shot earned us some good metres downfield. We then made good ground until a series of short passes saw Jake Sweeting feed Vice-Captain Jon-Luke Kirby who shrugged off the Town defence to barrel over from short range (4-0). Sweeting gladly added the extras from just left of the posts (6-0). A few minutes later the Canes doubled their lead as a Jake Sweeting bomb on the last was batted back by Jason Bass to Tom Wilkinson, who attempted to round a number of Town defenders before offloading to debutant Harry Higham who strolled through a gap in the Workington line to score (10-0). Once again, Sweeting added the extras from the boot (12-0).

After failing to deal with a curved kick restart and coughing up possession early in the following set, the visitors had an opportunity to strike back on 15 minutes as some quick hands out left gave Joe Hartley the momentum he needed to carry the Canes defence over the line and score (12-4). An impressive conversion from Carl Forber out wide followed and the Canes lead had been cut down to six (12-6). The game would then be fairly even for about ten minutes until a piece of individual brilliance saw Callum McLelland collect his own grubber from behind the Town line before passing inwards to Jake Sweeting who finished off an impressive play to swing the momentum back for the home team (16-6). Jake then went on to convert his own try, taking his personal contribution to 10 points already (18-6).

Play would then even out for a further ten minutes as the Canes still struggled to deal with the Workington kick-restarts but would not be beaten in defence despite the visitors best efforts. With a couple of minutes to go we were presented with an opportunity to extend our margin to three scores as Jake Sweeting was on the receiving end of a high shot whilst trying to sell the dummy. After calling for the kicking tee, Jake made sure we went into the changing rooms with a 14-point lead (20-6).

Half-time: Midlands Hurricanes 20 - 6 Workington Town

Despite the strong first half, it was another banana kick from the restart that gave Workington an early opportunity to narrow the deficit as Zarrin Galea took advantage of the resulting scrum to eventually score down the right edge (20-10). Forber was unable to convert. The Canes quickly restored their three-score cushion just minutes later as some quick passing from left to right saw Sweeting throw a short pass to Jason Bass, who span 540 degrees by virtue of being dragged by the Town defence before stretching over to score his sixth try of the season (24-10). Once again, Sweeting did not miss from the tee (26-10).

Just after the 50-minute mark another opportunity arose to add more points as a lengthy delayed pass by Danny Barcoe was almost intercepted by Workington but eventually knocked on. There then appeared to be a discussion between a Town player and the referee as the latter then awarded a penalty to the Canes in front of the sticks, which Jake Sweeting did not hesitate to convert as we extended our lead to 18 (28-10).

As the teams entered the final quarter, Workington seemed to gain a second wind. After Todd Horner could not reach a fumbled Jake Sweeting bomb before it reached the dead-ball line, the visitors made a break down the left edge before passing to Joe Hartley who managed to fend off Harry Higham’s best efforts to score in the corner (28-14). This time, Forber had no issues converting (28-16). About ten minutes later, Workington cut the deficit down to six as a speculative run from dummy-half saw Henson scoot over under the sticks (28-20) for an easy conversion for Forber (28-22).

With a little over five minutes left and all to play for, a cheeky chip over the Hurricanes defence was spilled by the Town winger and this appeared to symbolise a changing of the winds at a blustery Alexander Stadium. Towards the end of the resulting set Danny Barcoe made an impressive trademark scoot from dummy-half to bring us within five metres of the Workington line, before some quick thinking from Lewis Peachey saw him wrestle free of the Town defence before offloading to Sam Bowring, who basketball passed backwards to Jake Sweeting whose cut-out pass was finished by Matty Chrimes in the left-hand corner (32-22). Sweeting added another two points from the boot to cap off an extremely professional performance (34-22).

With the full-time whistle blowing shortly, the Canes once again made history by doing the double over Workington for the first time since joining League One in 2015. This win also restored the Canes fifth-place position in the league, with Sunday’s visitors slipping to sixth due to the Canes considerably superior points difference. A narrow defeat to Keighley Cougars for North Wales Crusaders means the Canes remain in control of their destiny for now, however a tough test down in the Duchy awaits Midlands as Cornwall will no doubt want to put us to the sword.

Man of the Match:
Brad Clavering (Sponsored by East Yorkshire Bathrooms)

Attendance:
677

Score Sequence:
4-0, 6-0, 10-0, 12-0, 12-4, 12-6, 16-6, 18-6, 20-6, 20-10, 24-10, 26-10, 28-10, 28-14, 28-16, 28-20, 28-22, 32-22 and 34-22