Doncaster 18 Workington 50: Doncaster stranded in trouble after home loss

Chief executive Carl Hall had described the bottom-four clash as a “win or bust” situation for the Dons in their bid to avoid relegation. But they started badly and were heading for defeat well before half-time.

Whitehaven, who had lost eight of their last nine away games, were down to 12 men after only five minutes when Jessie Joe Parker was sin-binned for dumping Shaun Leaf on his head.

But instead of taking advantage of their numerical superiority Doncaster conceded a try five minutes later when Dave Allen touched down following a slick passing move. Tries from Grant Gore and Chris Taylor saw the Dons fall 16-0 behind before a couple of touchdowns from Scott McAvoy.

Doncaster looked dispirited as Parker and Jordan Sigismeau raced through huge gaps in defence to put Whitehaven 38-0 up at the interval.

Any hopes of a second-half Doncaster comeback were soon dashed when Ben Davies and Dion Aiye stretched the visitors lead to 50 points.

It allowed Whitehaven to ease off and Doncaster finally found some form to grab three late tries from Paul Mennell, Jansin Turgut and Kyle Kesik to save them from an even more embarrassing defeat.

Doncaster: Waterman, Scott, Leaf, Welham, Fox, Mennell, Nicklas, Clark, Kesik, Waller, Snitch, Musolino, Emmett. Substitutes: Cowling, Carbutt, Spiers, Turgut.

Whitehaven: Jouffret, Sigismeau, Taylor, Parker, Calvert, Aiye, Gore, Beaumont, Coyle, Chapplehow, Allen, McAvoy, Brooks. Substitutes: Davies, Newton, Joseph, Wild.

Referee: T Crashley (RFL).