Last updated 10:48, Saturday, 28 June 2008

Doncaster 40 Workington Town 2: Doncaster extracted their revenge on Workington Town in last night’s National League Two clash to dash the Cumbrians’ hopes of their first double of the season.

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Shaun Lunt stops Craig Lawton offloading

Town inflicted the Dons biggest defeat of the league campaign when beating them 32-10 at Derwent Park last month.

It was a defeat that the Dons were keen to avenge and they did so in style when running in seven unanswered tries.

Town, who haven’t won on the road since beating York early in the season, must have hoped that the home side would have one eye on next weekend’s Northern Rail Cup final at Blackpool. But that didn’t prove to be the case.

Ellery Hanley’s men produced as committed a performance over the 80 minutes as they have done all season.

Had they not done so then the score would have been a lot closer, for Town produced a spirited display – particularly in the first half.

Not only did they defend well as a team, with prop Chris Young and full-back Jay Duffy both well to the fore, but their forwards also ran the ball in hard.

Town opened the scoring towards the end of an entertaining first quarter, with an easy penalty by stand-off Carl Forber in the 18th minute.

The Dons hit back and took the lead on 23 minutes when centre Andreas Bauer forced his way over from close range on the fifth tackle after they had run a kickable penalty.

Duffy denied the Dons a second try on 26 minutes when beating winger Wayne Rettie to Gale’s grubber kick five metres out following a 60 metre move initiated by hooker Corey Lawrie

Peter Dobson pulled off a try-saving tackle on stand-off Kyle Briggs on the half-hour, but the Dons weren’t to be denied and Lawrie scored out wide after they had created an overlap on the right.

Briggs added a superb conversion to make it 10-2.

There was a let off for Town on 38 minutes when Gale, who looked all set to claim his 20th try of the season after going through a gap five metres out, dropped the ball over the line in the act of scoring.

But no sooner had the groans died down, than speedy winger Dean Colton backed himself to beat Duffy for pace 35 metres after breaking the line in midfield, rather than look for support.

Briggs again added the extras to leave Town trailing 16-2.

Town knew that they had to score first after the break if they were to entertain any realistic hope of getting back into the game.

But they found themselves penned in their own half for most of the third quarter and only solid defence and Doncaster handling errors prevented them from falling further behind.

Rettie effectively killed the game off on 57 minutes when he latched on to a loose ball 30 metres out and touched down near enough for Gale to convert.

Gale also added the extras, courtesy of the far post, to make it 28-2 after Kyle Wood had scrambled his way over from close range on 61 minutes.

French international prop Jean-Christophe Borlin added to Town’s woes on 67 minutes when charging over from close range. Gale again added the extras to leave the Cumbrians trailing 34-2.

Gale romped in for the last try of the game, which he also converted, after backing up a strong run by centre Zeb Luisi.

MATCH FACTS
Dons: Leaf, Colton, Bauer, Luisi, Rettie, Briggs, Gale, Benson, Lawrie, Castle, Buttery, Lawton, Green. Subs: Wood, Hart, Borlin, Teixido.

Workington: Duffy, Dawes, McCully, Marsh, Wilson, Forber, Poisel, Young, Lunt, Burgess, Robinson, Beaumont, Miller. Subs: Burgess, Tunstall, Dobson, Benjafield.

SCORERS
Doncaster tries: Gale, Rettie, Lawrie, Colton, Bauer, Wood, Borlin. Goals: Gale 4, Briggs 2

Town: Goal: Forber

Referee: James Child

Attendance: 738

Man of the match: Chris Young