CRAIG Lingard's Sheffield were made to work hard for their victory in their first of back-to-back meetings versus Whitehaven in muddy conditions in West Cumbria, with plenty of positives for the Cumbrians on their return to the Championship despite defeat.
The first half was an even contest with high completion rates from both sides despite the soft pitch and the often-wet weather.
The home side lost Ethan Bickerdike in the early stages for an HIA assessment, from which he would later return after a head clash.
The incident, however, was put on report by match official Kevin Moore.
The opening half seemed destined to finish scoreless with both sides' defensive efforts out-matching the attacking guile of their opposition, that was until six minutes before the half-time break.
Aaron Turnbull broke through the middle of the field and was 1 on 1 with Matty Marsh before having Jack Newbegin in support on his right hand shoulder, the prop elected to keep hold of the ball to the despair of the supporting half back but in the end made the correct decision as on the following play Ciaran Walker's delicate grubber in behind allowed Mitchell Todd to dive on the ball in the left hand side corner to get the contests opening score.
Walker slipped while attempting the conversion and never looked like troubling the posts.
The second stanza started with the visitors on the front foot and the third quarter of the encounter proved to be the pivotal one as Kieran Gill showed why his highly regarded as the best player in his position in the division showing a range of skills to cross for two tries after the home side allowed their opponents up the field conceding a six again and penalty respectively in the build up to Eagles back to back scores.
A fresh set of six was awarded to the home side following one effort on slowing the Eagles' play the ball down from Jack Kellett just into Haven territory, less than one minute later, Kieran Gill found a gap in a home defence that had defended thirteen consecutive tackles to saunter over from short range.
Jordan Lilley's conversion attempt fell behind the near right-hand side post. Less than ten minutes later, Lilley & Gill combined as they had done so successfully previously in their spells at Bradford Bulls.
Lilley's delicate kick in behind the Haven defence was collected magnificently one-handed by Kieran Gill before running behind the try line and grounding the ball in the middle of the sticks to allow an easy conversion for Lilley, who duly delivered for an advantage they would never relinquish.
The gap was extended late on into the contest as Lilley slotted over a drop goal from 12 metres out after a previous attempt ricocheted over both posts before falling short.
Whitehaven felt they had reduced the deficit in the final five minutes when Ciaran Walker looked to have taken advantage of a missed catch from Joe Brown, but the score was ruled out as Ethan Bickerdike was judged to have tackled Brown without the ball, a decision Anthony Murray bemoaned post-match as he discussed his centre's right to challenge for the ball.
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