By Alan Irving

Last updated 12:58, Friday, 08 August 2008

Whitehaven's half-century eclipse of Sheffield Eagles has sent out a warning to more fancied National League One rivals in an exciting play-off race.

Haven were red hot in the second half at The Recre last night firing hopes not only of a prime position in the play off but also of reaching another Grand Final.

After the 52-8 demolition skipper Gary Broadbent urged caution and stressed: “We must not get carried away.”

But the Sky TV pundits rate Haven’s chances highly.

“Whitehaven blew the Eagles to bits, especially with their second-half power,” ex-Great Britain prop Barrie McDermott told the Sky audience.

And his former international front row team-mate Terry O'Connor, enthused: “In the second half they were a full professional outfit, they were controlled and disciplined, that’s what Ged Stokes asked for leading up to this game.”

With praise being showered on the side from terraces and the television, the ultimate accolade came from delighted coach Ged Stokes who beamed: “I couldn’t have asked for more.”

The big Kiwi added: “We had a sluggish start to the game, I wasn’t very happy with that. The first 15 minutes just didn’t happen for us but we certainly made amends coming out after half time I thought we were quite superb.

“The introduction of Howard Hill after half time was a massive blow to Sheffield, his go forward was tremendous and he sparked everybody else as well and we got some very nice tries tonight. Our forward play was tremendous, over the last few weeks this is what we have been basing our play around, and really I couldn’t ask for any more.”

Nine tries, seven of them in the second half, saw Whitehaven race to their biggest win of the season, banish the previous’s week’s shock defeat at Dewsbury and leap into fourth place above Leigh setting themselves up for a big showdown against the Centurions at Hilton Park weekend.

Stokes stressed the importance of holding down fourth place to secure a home start in the play offs.

“We have a tremendous crowd that get behind us, the team has performed this year under a lot of pressure and they have been a fantastic team to coach.”

Any team in the top six wants to try and make the Grand Final, no doubt about that, good financial incentive as well, but we are working on things game by game. There are some very good teams in this competition. Sheffield was a big game for us. I am constantly saying ‘this is our biggest game of the year’ every week, the guys are getting a bit sick of that but in each case it has been.”

Garry Broadbent, twice beaten in Haven Grand Finals, was an inspiration again last night and would love another showpiece appearance. “It would be nice but we are not getting carried away. We talked a lot about the way we got turned over by Dewsbury and how you react to a defeat. We did that today but we have two tough games (Leigh and Widnes) before we get to the play-offs. In this league anyone can beat anyone so we certainly won’t be getting carried away.”

n Catch the match: pages 36-37