ALTHOUGH beaten again, this time 24-38, this was a much-improved performance from Lynx.

Looking a much more balanced side, the home side were a constant threat throughout the game and but for some indiscipline they could well have turned this fixture around.

Ex-Wigan and Great Britain player Andy Platt, the Workington Town coach, could have been forgiven for thinking this would be a walkover for his side.

The Lancashire side hasn't won a league game since March 21, which was against Rochdale Hornets away.

Lynx players are still fighting though and maybe they just need an injection of self-confidence.

Things started well for Lynx even though an early penalty for offside had been conceded.

They squared the game with a penalty of their own for offside and then went straight back on the attack.

Neil Alexander, on loan from Salford, made a great run through midfield to create a space for the ever supportive Doc Murray who screamed 35 yards downfield.

Drawing two defenders, the full back whipped the ball to Shaun Geritas for a well worked try under the posts.

Ex-student international winger Danny Jones converted the kick to put Lynx in the driving seat.

The Lancashire side continued to impress by pressuring Town with their kick and chase game.

It happened again - Murray was sin binned for flopping in the tackle and from a dominant position Lynx found themselves under intense pressure.

Hooker Mike Jenkins sent loose forward Simon Knox over for an easy try after the number 9 had sidestepped a short-handed defence.

Centre John Allen followed suit minutes later when he broke through the clutches of his opposite number PJ Soloman for a try in the left corner.

Five minutes after the full back was allowed back on centre Evan Cochrane put through a gleeful scrum-half Graeme Close to score under the sticks.

Lancashire managed to get back on terms shortly afterwards when rejuvenated centre Darren Abram latched on to a pass and ran at the Workington defence.

He passed to winger Neil Parsley who made no mistake by scoring left of the posts.

Lynx had managed to bring themselves within four points by the interval.

The second half began with Lynx the more inventive and with Paul Norton and Dave Smith working well in the forwards.

They might have scored a try but the ball just ran dead from a Murray grubber kick to the try line.

Workington punished them immediately when full back Craig Stalker intercepted a great pass at pace feeding Close for his second try of the game.

Lynx dug in and were tackling well and creating chance after chance up front without ever making a decent breakthrough.

Then Murray was sin binned for a second time, this time for dissent.

Reduced to 12 men, Lynx struggled and Close made the try this time by putting centre Cochrane through for a score.

Showing great heart, Lynx came back at Town when the increasingly impressive Alexander put Parsley over for his second try.

Back came Workington in this seesaw affair, this time second row Anthony Samuel linking with Close to put him under the sticks for a well deserved hat-trick.

Ian Gildart, the hard working Lynx front rower, scored in the left corner in a great cross-field move but it all proved to be too much in the end.

There were, however, some promising signs and Lynx would hope for a better result in their next game.

That's at Victory Park, Chorley, where they will be entertaining Swinton.

There were mixed fortunes for the Academy side as they beat Gateshead Thunder 32 points to 22 last week in a terrific match.

They couldn't quite match it this week as they went down 24 points to 20 against Keighley Cougars.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.