West Bowling earned plaudits from Workington Town coach Chris Thorman after pushing the League One side hard before bowing out of the Challenge Cup yesterday.

The Bradford National Conference League side were far from overwhelmed at their higher-ranked hosts as they narrowly lost 28-22 in the third round.

Workington led 12-4 at the break and looked to be wrapping up the tie when they went 24-4 up, only for Ryan Hunkin’s men to get back to 24-16.

It needed a try from Russell Bolton to steady the Workington ship but Bowling came back with another score in a fine contest.

Dan Gregory, Ollie Bartle, Richard Lumb and Danny Halmshaw got the tries for Bowling, with Ben Heald making three conversions.

Workington coach Chris Thorman paid tribute to Wests and their vocal away following.

“I have to give massive credit to West Bowling,” Thorman told T&A sister paper the Times & Star. “They had to deal with a postponement last week and they had to travel up from Bradford.

“I thought they did their club really proud.”

He also tweeted: "All the best this season - I’ll be checking for your results. Your players, committee and supporters were a credit to our sport today."

West Bowling added on their Twitter account: "Disappointed with the final result, but extremely happy with the effort on show."