ANTHONY MURRAY has warned North Wales Crusaders to be prepared for a fired up Workington Town on Sunday.

Crusaders entertain a Workington outfit who have lost back-to-back League One fixtures, the latest a 48-10 thumping at the hands of Newcastle.

That led to Workington head coach Chris Thorman conceding: “Unfortunately, we had too many people miss their assignments and had off days.

“When you’ve got four or five people who are performing at a five out of 10 or even worse, then it’s going to be tough.

“It was very frustrating, I thought the way we started, conceding five tries in the opening 20 minutes and that left us chasing our tails for the rest of the game and your game plan goes out of the window when you are 22-0 down.”

Workington are now two points outside the play-off places in seventh, while Crusaders are a win behind in eighth spot.

And Crusaders head coach Murray believes Workington will be determined to put their recent results behind them and prevent his side from drawing level on points in the race for a top-six finish.

“It will be a really tough game,” said Murray. “Workington won’t want us crawling level on points with them.

“They have spent a lot of money and they will know what’s at stake if we win the game.

“There is nothing worse than playing against a team that’s coming into a game on the back of a heavy defeat.

“It will be a baptism of fire for us. It will be a tough contest with plenty at stake.”

Murray hopes Rob Massam, Brad Brennan and Stephen Wild are available to increase his selection options as Crusaders go in search of a third successive victory.

A 14-6 triumph over Keighley followed up a 24-22 success at leaders Whitehaven, and Murray hopes his players have taken belief from both wins.

“The players have learned how to see out games,” said Murray. “I hope the players can take that away from our recent wins.

“There have been lessons to learn and managing games better is definitely one we want the players to take from the first part of the season.

“We have some momentum and our confidence is high, so hopefully we can make it three wins in a row and keep our top-six bid alive.”

While Crusaders, who will be hoping Jonny Walker is fit after losing his two front teeth against Keighley, head into the contest full of confidence, Thorman wants Workington to get their campaign back on track.

“You can always turn things around and learn from your mistakes,” said Thorman, who has hinted at making changes to his 17-man squad for the trip to Wrexham, adding: “I am probably going to look at team selection in the first instance and evaluate where I possible went wrong.”