Workington Town 24 Whitehaven 6: The Ike Southward Memorial Trophy is back at Derwent Park as Workington Town claimed a 24-6 victory over neighbours Whitehaven.

Town looked good for their win with some good performances across the park, including full-back Ryan Fieldhouse, Carl Forber and young trialist Jonathan Walsh.

But Haven came back stronger in the second half with Dion Aiye to the fore for the visitors, and they pushed back, but it wasn't enough as Town stood firm.

Workington got off to a dream start as they scored in their first set of six with just 46 seconds on the clock.

A little break from Forber up the right-hand side set-up the move with Elliott Miller having a hand in before Fieldhouse sliced through the last line of defence to touch down, Forber converting.

Haven looked to fight right back, forcing a goal-line drop out in a scramble near the Town line. And they got another set of six when Miller tried to intercept a pass from Aiye but it came loose and the Town defence had to withstand a third surge after giving away a penalty in front of the posts.

Town had to put in some desperate defence to hold up Jason Mossop over the line and then raced back upfield themselves but couldn't get their possession to count with Sean Penkywicz held just short on two occasions.

A neat break from Tyllar Mellor gave Town another boost as he offloaded to Forber. They took play up to the Haven line and Gordon Maudling thought he had scored but referee Gareth Hewer denied the try for a forward pass.

Perry Singleton and Karl Olstrom looked to combine near the line, but again, the final killer instinct was lacking and Haven were able to collect and get away from the danger.

Haven had to clear their lines again shortly after as a kick through from Forber had them under pressure with Jamie Doran gaining on the defence and winning a drop-out from beneath the posts.

It was half an hour before the next breakthrough came and it was another period of Town sustained pressure that led to them doubling their lead.

On the last tackle, Doran put through a kick and Fieldhouse reacted well to chase it down and score the try, with Forber again on target with the two-pointer.

And just three minutes later, Forber got a try of his own after Caine Barnes had broken through the Haven line, the half-back tagged on his own conversion and Town had opened up an 18 point lead over their rivals.

As the clock ticked down, Haven had a final fling with a kick from Sam Dowsett forcing a drop-out. There was a big hit by Singleton on Callum Phillips and, when the ball came loose, ref Hewer gave Haven a penalty for a knock-on.

But again, Haven could not get the breakthrough they were desperately searching for as they were halted in their tracks with an obstruction call from Hewer and Town had the ball in their own hands as the half time hooter sounded.

Haven began the second half searching for a way back into the game and they nearly had early success when a succession of Town penalties gave them field possession but David Thompson was held up just short by some strong defence.

Jordan Burns then looked to get on the end of a kick on the last tackle but the Town defence kicked the ball off the winger and out of play.

And, at the opposite end of the field, Barnes surged over the line but he was pulled back for a forward pass.

The Haven pressure was building and they got their reward on 58 minutes when Dowsett darted from dummy-half spying a gap in the Town line and raced over, with Jordan Burns adding the extras to narrow the gap to 12 points.

Fieldhouse was called upon to make a crucial tackle on Sam Forrester when he was released through by Aiye but he held on too long and Haven got another set of six well inside the Town half.

But it was Town who finally struck back to hit a crucial blow as Mellor went over wide out on the left and Forber added the conversion from the touchline to wide the gap again to 24-6.

Mellor was nearly over for a second moments later but the pass from Penkywicz was adjudged to have gone forward. Then, Fieldhouse just lost the ball as he went on a long and winding run to the line to try and get his hat-trick.

Burns looked to make a late run for Haven as the minutes were counting down but his kick to the line was too heavy and it went dead. Andrew Bulman was then put into touch by the Town defence as they looked to hold on to their advantage.

There was more drama on the final whistle as a pass for trialist Walsh was also denied for a forward pass but, as the hooter sounded, it was Workington celebrating as they brought the Ike Southward Memorial Trophy back to Derwent Park.