By Martin Morgan

Last updated 20:47, Saturday, 17 May 2008

BRETT Smith will make his first-team return for Workington Town against unbeaten Doncaster tonight at Derwent Park after over two years out of the spotlight (8pm kick-off).

Brett Smith: ‘It’s just a case of getting on a roll.’

Smith impressed boss Dave Rotheram on his comeback for the Reserve Grade last weekend against Batley, and he slots in at loose-forward against Ellery Hanley’s side.

“Brett’s trained with us for a month now and worked really hard,” Rotheram said.

“He’s a bit of an unknown quantity to me, but he played really well for the reserve grade.”

With hooker Shaun Lunt - rated by his coach the leading No 9 outside Super League - also returning to action after recovering from a back injury, Town will be stronger than in recent weeks. And Rotheram reckons they’ll need to be against the promotion-chasing Dons.

“They are worthy of being top of the table and are a well-drilled and organised side,” added the coach, who is looking for a huge improvement on Workington’s dismal effort in their 66-6 defeat at Barrow two weeks ago.

“We trained full of enthusiasm last night, and if we take that in to the game, I’ll be happy.

“We need to raise our game after being embarrassed at Barrow last time out. What happened that day has to be enough to motivate the players.”

Town and Doncaster both had last weekend off, which allowed Keighley to leapfrog the Dons and snatch top spot.

But Hanley’s men will regain the initiative, at least until the Cougars visit York on Sunday, if they take three points tonight.

Doncaster were due to make the long trip from South Yorkshire this afternoon and are convinced Town will be fired up for the clash.

No 2 Tony Miller said: “They had the week off as well and they got hammered the last time they played so their coach will want a big response from them.

“They have got a massive pack - although it is not as mobile as ours -but they do a lot straight off the ruck. It’s never easy up at Workington but we will go there with the right attitude and hope to build on what has been a great start to the season.”