Workington Town star Clayton Sutton will be back on the sidelines as his side face Newcastle Thunder in the Coral Challenge Cup this weekend as he is cup-tied.

Sutton had played for his former amateur side Distington in an earlier round of the competition so cannot feature for Town but is hoping to get his chance as the season goes on.

After making his debut in last weekend’s clash against Thunder, he said it was a great feeling to have got the league win under their belts ahead of tomorrow’s cup game (3pm kick-off) against the same opponents.

“It felt good to be part of the matchday squad, as due to work commitments and being cup-tied, I’ve missed a lot of training and potential game time,” Sutton said.

“So, it’s been difficult to be involved as much as I’d would have liked. So, to get the first run under my belt with the lads, was good feeling.

“The build-up was really relaxed and chilled out, which is what I like. However, the intensity changed going into the warm-up and everyone was good to go for 3pm me included, I was gutted to be sitting on the bench. Leon [Pryce, coach] and the lads all had a craic with me at some point before the game and just told me to enjoy it.”

Sutton admitted to not really getting nervous ahead of games but he was delighted to see a strong contingent from Distington there to cheer him on in his first run-out at Derwent Park. But he also said it was tough going against a strong Newcastle side, who Town will come up against again in the fourth round tie.

He added: “I thought we started flat, we were completing our sets, but Newcastle brought more energy and out-enthused us in the opening stages. Before we knew it, we were 18-0 down. Leon was demanding impact from the middles in the dug-out and they brought just that, I thought [Fuifui] Moimoi and [Sam] Hopkins were massive.

“Newcastle struggled to handled their size and it was a real momentum swinger, so we were happy to come in at half-time all square.

“I thought we took that momentum into the second half, the middles stood up and the halves dominated the game.

“As the game went on, I wasn’t expecting massive minutes – if any being honest, as Perry Singleton and Elliott Miller were both solid in the centres and Karl Olstrom was covering the forwards so I was happy when I got the nod.”

Sutton also thanked a strong pre-season with Distington for preparing him for the speed and power that was needed in League One.