Workington want to build against Batley

Workington Town coach Phil Veivers wants his team to build on their 37-30 win at Sheffield Eagles last week.

The win was only their second of the season, and Veivers believes that it was a reward for his squad’s hard work in recent times.

“It was a great result, there was a lot of effort and hard work which went into the previous two weeks leading up to the game and they executed pretty well out there on the field,” he said.

“Batley are obviously flying high at the moment. JK (John Kear) has done a great job with them to get them up where they are.

“They’ve had some really good results against top class opposition. When we played them at their place I thought we competed with them for half the game, so we need to make it a complete 80 minutes.”

Workington will be without Brett Carter, who has a dislocated shoulder, but hooker Graeme Mattinson and centre Jason Mossop should feature.

Batley Bulldogs won 32-16 at home to Halifax last time out, and coach John Kear was very pleased with the way his team played.

“I was delighted. I felt it had been coming because we’d been on a losing trot, interrupted by that fine Featherstone Cup win,” he said.

“We played really well against Leigh and were unlucky not to come away with something and we gave a creditable account of ourselves against Catalans, one of the form teams in Super League.

“I don’t think performances have dipped, I felt a result was just around the corner and the win last weekend was a reward for that.

“I went to Sheffield to watch Workington and was mightily impressed. They’ve got some threat out wide in the centres and the half-backs were playing really well. They’re renowned for having a big pack and have strong-running second rowers in Phillips and Stack.

“It’s always a challenge going up to Cumbria, you’ve got to get up there and then give yourself a chance of winning by playing well and that’s what we intend to do.”