Despite an impressive surge in the last 20 minutes, Workington fell painfully short of registering their maiden Cumbria League win of the season as they went down 40 - 30 to Millom in monsoon conditions at The Ellis

It was a match that Workington should have won, but a combination of missed kicks and concentration lapses cost them dearly & a bonus point barely softens the blow of such a loss.

The Zebras proceeded to swamp their visitors' half direct from kick off and within two minutes David Wordsworth was ploughing home for the opening try, which went unconverted - but Millom quickly recovered and three minutes later took the lead after exerted scrummaging saw them go under the posts to set up an easy conversion.

Workington were determined to make a game of this and on 11 minutes regained the lead when well executed scrummaging of their own ended with Wordsworth going over for a second unconverted try.

For a while it looked as if the Zebras would increase their lead, with Wordsworth, Worsley and the McCrickerd brothers producing dangerous surges into Millom territory, only thwarted by dogged but efficient tackling - but after absorbing the pressure like a sponge, Millom poured cold water over their hosts by snatching back the lead on 25 minutes after a fluid pass-and-move sequence cut through the Zebras backline to produce an unconverted, but well taken try,

Both sides exchanged penalties - Millom on 31 minutes to increase their lead again and then four minutes from time, John McCrickerd clinically dispatched a kick that reduced the arrears to just two points - if the Zebras couldn't score again before half time, then they were more than willing to close out the half and focus on the next 40 minutes.

Suddenly, on the stroke of half-time, Millom drove a stake to Workington's heart when they took advantage of a rare lapse in concentration as a high ball left the Zebras flatfooted and the visitors gleefully slid home to touch down in the corner for their third try - although this went unconverted once again, Millom went into the break on a high.

Workington were clearly affected by that very late sucker punch and it clearly showed in the opening ten minutes of the second half as Millom stepped up a level and mercilessly exploited their frailties with two converted tries and a penalty to go 37 - 13 ahead as well as securing a bonus point in the process.

However, the South Cumbrians appeared to sit back, thinking that victory was assured - Workington quickly spotted this complacency and began to gradually make more dangerous attacks into their opponents' half - especially with David Wordsworth and Scott Campbell calling the shots - and their dominance was rewarded with three tries in twenty minutes as Wordsworth, Matt Scott and Mark Murphy all exploited the overstretched and tiring Millom defence to breeze over the whitewash. For David Wordsworth, it was a hard-earned and well deserved hat-trick that was rapturously applauded by the Ellis faithful who were still defying the dreadful elements.

The score now with minutes to go was 37 - 30 in Millom's favour, but only one of Workington's tries had yielded conversion - the Zebras would have been one point ahead had all the conversions been successful.

With time running out, the Zebras kept probing and prodding in search of an opening to grab another try and conversion to snatch an improbable draw, but they couldn't find a way through and Millom recovered to regain possession before they were awarded a penalty on the stroke of full time, which was calmly delivered to secure maximum points.

The Zebras will take their own bonus point for scoring four tries - but they will be rueing the missed penalties and that lapse in concentration just before half time, because on the whole they produced a good performance which points to them finally clinching that maiden victory sooner rather than later and they will get that chance on Saturday week when then travel to Penrith 2nds.

By John Hastings @ The ESG.