PICTURED: a spectacular finish to a Steve Prescott try.

Saints 60 Workington Town 16

SAINTS maintained their100 per cent Super League record with this 11-try slaughter in the sun at Knowsley Road.

They passed the 50-points mark for the fifth time this season to carry their winning sequence to a remarkable 17 games, while the final margin enabled them to reduce the points differential - albeit marginally - on nearest challengers Wigan.

And anyone seeking to sample what life in summer rugby is really all about certainly found the answer on Sunday, when temperatures that remained oppressive throughout spelled a shirt-sleeved crowd and maximum use of substitutes as perspiring players took a welcome 'breather.

Given these energy-sapping conditions and the fact that both teams were minus half-a-dozen regulars, both Saints and basement side Workington deserve a vote of thanks for providing a contest which, if not scaling the heights,was nonetheless often rich in entertainment value.

It is a sad fact of Rugby League life that the game is at a low ebb in Workington nowadays, but a battling Town who last won at Saints in 1974 did their best to dispel the gloom of a single win this season, and a 62-0 thrashing at Derwent Park last March, by achieving respectability via a three-try fightback in the second half despite the dismissal of Paul Penrice.

From a Saints' angle probably the most cheering aspect was the return after injury of influential skipper Bobbie Goulding who, as a player not exactly a stranger to record-breaking, promptly obliged by adding another in becoming the holder of the fastest 100 goals accolade in just 17 games.

Bobbie was on target with eight goals from 11 attempts and, as a player more inclined to creating tries rather than scoring them, did just that on this occasion by touching down to give himself chance to reach the magic ton, in the course of which he notched his 800th point in a Saints' jersey and was a worthy winner of the McEwan Lager and Hart Gilmore man-of-the-match awards. It was also good to see flying winger Anthony Sullivan given more opportunity than of late and he responded by scoring Saints' last three tries for a genuine hat-trick, passing the 400-point mark in five years at Knowsley Road en-route, while opposite flanker Danny Arnold nipped in for two tries to maintain the pressure on the absent Paul Newlove at the top of the charts.

Yet again fans were treated to a Steve Prescott spectacular and with it the lesson that opposing sides put the 'bomb' up to the Saints' full-back at their peril, while up front there was much to admire in the work of hooker extraordinaire Keiron Cunningham, Adam Fogerty and Simon Booth, while restored Cumbrian prop Jonathan Neill served notice that he still much to offer the club.

Set to face the glaring sun Saints had to withstand early Workington pressure and 10 minutes elapsed before the home side found their scoring touch, with Goulding almost inevitably the architect when his reverse chip-through to the posts was seized upon by the ever-alert Cunningham.

Goulding then linked with Chris Morley to send Joynt haring beneath the visitors' posts, and although a Mark Keenan penalty reduced Town's arrears to 12-2 with 15 minutes on the clock, the omens were ominous for Workington when Vila Matautia demolished four would-be tacklers on his way to the line for a quite incredible six-pointer.

Enter a Stephen Prescott fresh from his international baptismal triumph in midweek, and what an encore performance it was as he set the Knowsley Road rafters ringing with another 90-yard special after defusing Darren Carter's 'bomb,' and then outwitting Rafael Filipo, Mark Johnson and Jamie Smith on his way to the line.

Inventive out-half Karle Hammond then carved out a try for Alan Hunte as Workington's problems were compounded by the sin-binning for dissent of captain courageous Colin Armstrong who, along with the admirable Rowland Phillips and the elusive Keenan, were proving to be the pick of an out-gunned, outpaced but game Town side.

Substitute Ian Pickavance and the irrepressible Goulding then contrived to engineer Arnold's first touchdown, with the Saints' scrum-half cross-kick to the corner allowing Danny to pick his scoring spot to give the home side a 32-2 cushion at the break, while Workington's best chance came to nought after a Phillips'-John Allen sortie ended when Johnson dropped the crucial pass.

There was little hint of a let-up for Town on the resumption when Simon Booth's searing break and well-timed pass put Arnold in from 40 yards with Goulding tacking on the touchline conversion, only for Workington to hit back in spirited fashion with a snap try from Allen and another from Keenan after Saints were caught napping. Locally-born referee Colin Morris, who had controlled matters superbly, then suffered a leg injury and was replaced by touch-judge Peter Martin, and he quickly signalled his arrival in the middle by - lacking the dreaded red card - pointing Penrice in the direction of the dressing room after an alleged high tackle on Hunte.

Then came the moment the crowd had waited for when Matautia opened the way for Goulding to score behind the posts for Bobbie to oblige with the vital 100th goal and, following Stephen Holgate's try and conversion by Carter for the visitors, the scene was set for Sullivan to be rewarded for a performance in which he had done everything but score on several occasions.

'Sully's' first try came courtesy of a surging run by Matautia; then followed a 50-yarder after Goulding's slick inside pass, with Anthony's third coming when Workington substitute Andrew Grima lost possession in a challenge by Andy Northey, with Goulding's touchline conversion being the icing on the cake and rounding off the scoring for Saints.

Saints: Prescott; Arnold, Hunte, Matautia, Sullivan; Hammond, Goulding; Fogerty, Cunningham, Neill, Booth, Joynt, Morley. Substitutes Pickavance for Joynt (25), Haigh for Prescott (30), Northey for Morley (40), Joynt for Neill (54), McAtee for Cunningham (67), Neill for Fogerty (72).

Workington Town: Smith; Chilton, Penrice, Allen, Johnson; Carter, Keenan; Filipo, Bethwaite, Phillips, Armstrong, Holgate, Palmada. Substitutes Grima for Palmada (34), Moore for Filipo (36), Howarth for Bethwaite (67), Stainton for Chilton (71).

Attendance: 7,235.

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