Kingstone Press Championship Round 8 preview: Halifax v Workington Town

Richard Marshall, the Halifax coach, felt his side were good in patches over Easter.

“We played great in the first half against Bradford and played real well towards the end of the second half against Hunslet so we’ve not put an 80 minute performance together over the Easter programme,” he said.

“We went toe to toe against Bradford on Friday and were in a position to win the game but being full-time they had a little bit more than us in the second half when we ran out of juice.

“It was probably the opposite in the game against Hunslet. It would have been nice to have beaten Bradford but we’re pleased we got the two points against Hunslet.”

Looking ahead to Sunday he said: “Workington are a good team. I know they’re not in the upper echelons of the league but Phil Veivers is a good coach.

“He’ll have them fired up for this week and looking to get back on the winning ladder but we want to string back to back wins together.

“We put a lot into Monday, we’re a few bodies down but we’ve got a good enough squad to come through.”

Jacob Fairbank (ankle), Steve Tyrer (medial ligament strain) and Ben Johnson (head injury), join Miles Greenwood and Tommy Saxton on the injury list.

Phil Veivers, the Workington Town coach, was pleased with his side’s efforts over the weekend: “We set out to win the Whitehaven game – which was massive for us.

“We went to Leigh to compete and were a little bit off the pace and under done in the sense that we lacked energy.

“Halifax are a very tough side, I’ve watched three of their games and their pack is pretty strong. Everything revolves around Scotty Murrell so we’re going to have to look after him.

“We’ve had seven games in about three weeks and it’s been pretty tough for us. I’m just glad to come out the other side with not many injury worries.”