Whitehaven head coach Gary Charlton was full of praise for the impact that Dion Aiye and Carl Forster made in their 48-19 victory at the Keighley Cougars.

After a disastrous opening quarter, the introduction of Aiye and Forster at 14-0 down changed the momentum of the game as Whitehaven responded with 42 unanswered second-half points to maintain their advantage over Oldham and Newcastle at the top of the Betfred League One table.

But the arrival of his two impact substitutes from the bench allowed Gary’s side to get onto the front foot and turn Keighley over in style much to the jubilation of the healthy Whitehaven support in the second half.

And now Charlton is looking to carry the momentum into their final two games against West Wales and Coventry, with promotion to the Championship now in touching distance on the back of another victory.

“We couldn’t cope with Keighley for the first 30 minutes of the game and then we introduced Dion and Fozzy from the bench and it completely changed,” admitted Charlton.

“It looked like we were still sat on the bus and everything we’ve done so well all year we went away from and it showed because for the first part of that game, we simply weren’t good enough.

“Keighley showed more enthusiasm than us and were good value for their 14-point lead. They’ve both been great for us throughout this year, Dion since the start of the season and Carl since he came back from Rochdale.

“Both of them came of the bench and made a real impact because they’re big strong fellas.

“When they’re going forward, our boys follow them up the pitch, and it makes it a hell of a lot easier when we’re on the front foot and in attack.

“We’ve come out of that one though relatively unscathed and have no new injury worries.”