Rams crowned Betfred League One Champions after victory over Workington at FLAIR Stadium.
After last week’s narrow defeat at South Leeds Stadium, the Rams aimed to bounce back on home soil and secure the victory that they needed to become champions against Workington Town.
Unlike the poor start they made against Hunslet, the Rams started with purpose driving up the field in the first set of the game, which resulted in Paul Sykes kicking an early penalty goal after a dangerous tackle by Stevie Scholey, for which he was also shown a yellow card.
However, Workington then took the lead after Ciaran Walker managed to step through a hole in the defence to score and with his own conversion gave the visitors a four-point lead after eleven minutes.
The Rams answered back shortly after when Ronan Dixon smashed over in front of the posts for his fifth try of the season and took the lead when Sykes converted. Both sides were to go in level at half time though after Ciaran Walker kicked a penalty goal from twenty metres out after a late shot by a Rams defender.
With the scores level, the opening ten minutes of the second half were a tense affair with both teams struggling to have any real opportunities, until a late shot on a Rams player gave Sykes another penalty goal opportunity from which he duly converted and gave the Rams a two-point lead.
This seemed to give the home side a lift and with the visitors’ injury problems seemingly mounting, the Rams produced a clinical five-minute period that all but secured the league title.
In the fifty-eighth minute, a wonderful offload by Brad Graham whose mazy run had bamboozled the Workington defence found Sykes storming through the middle to score his third try of the season.
Just two minutes later, Andy Gabriel leapt highest to collect a high kick out wide and ran through the middle to score on what was just his second Rams appearance of the season after recovering from his year-long injury.
In the next set straight on the back of that try, Gabriel then scored again. This time it was in the right-hand corner after a couple of fantastic breaks by Sam Day and then Owen Restall.
Restall then got himself in on the action, which his recent performances have more than deserved, with a jinking run through a tiring Workington defence, for his fifteenth score of 2023.
With just minutes remaining and the title in the bag, Andy Gabriel added the cherry on top with his hat-trick score, the sixth of his career and first for the Rams, after a delicious break down the Rams right by Bailey O’Connor.
As the final hooter sounded and We Are The Champions rang out around the FLAIR Stadium, the Rams players and fans celebrated wildly, bringing the curtain down on a home campaign where they have won every single competitive fixture played there in 2023.
After the game Rams Head Coach Liam Finn said, “I’m really proud today, proud of everyone’s efforts, all of the lads. We’ve never shied away from the fact that our goal and what we set out to achieve was to get promoted back into the Championship and to do that as champions is an added bonus.”
Our next and final game of the season sees us face Doncaster RLFC on Sunday 27th August at the Eco-Power Stadium (15:00).
Dewsbury Rams (38): Restall, Gabriel, O’Connor, Greensmith, Whiteley, Sykes, Turner, Beckett, Butterworth, R.Dixon, Davies, Graham, Collinson.
Interchanges: Day, Morris, Walker, Ferguson, Summers (18th)
Tries: R.Dixon (19’), Sykes (58’), Gabriel (61’, 62’, 78’), Restall (72’)
Conversions: Sykes (5/6)
Penalty Goals: Sykes (4’, 50’)
Workington Town (8): Burns, Bickerdike, Mossop, Sabutey, Moore, Walker, Forber, McAvoy, Mallinson, Scholey, Bradley, McNicholas, Dawson.
Interchanges: Marwood, Reid, Stephenson, Charlton, Burns (18th)
Tries: Walker (11’)
Conversions: Walker (1/1)
Penalty Goal: Walker (23’)
Yellow Card: Scholey (2’)
