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Late, late show for Reserves at Workington

A look at the league table broken down into home and away results click here shows that the Cumbrian side are a more formidable force on their own ground than on their travels. The way they started the game showed why as they dominated possession and chances in the first twenty minutes. Adam Telfer on the left wing gave the FC defence a torrid time and with better luck could have had a hat-trick in that period. Indeed it was twenty minutes in before FC United had any kind of effort on target.

After thirty minutes the home bench were convinced they had finally taken the lead, a shot across goal from Stefan Scott hit the far post before being cleared off the line. The visitors were getting back into the game as the half wore on, Shawcross came close after a Nathan Chorlton free kick on forty minutes. Half time was looming and thoughts of regrouping in the sanctuary of the dressing room were probably uppermost but Wolf had other ideas. A bending run allowed him to beat the FC back line and run on to a through ball as a clearance rebounded in Workington’s favour and he slotted home calmly.

A change of shape for the second half meant that it was FC United who dominated proceedings, Nigel McCombie in the home goal was called into action to save a Shawcross header from Dean Hope’s corner within a minute of the restart. As many FC chances came in the opening twenty minutes of the second half as there were for Workington in the first; Chris Hill and Leo Magnone were close and a surging run from Lee Green from the half way line was snuffed out by McCombie.

Workington probably only had one real chance which came in the 75th minute when they broke quickly after a Green and Hope exchange was thwarted; Scott being denied by Jupp. On 83minutes a Magnone free kick was cleared to Hill and a snap shot flew agonisingly wide.

Even so there was time for the persistence to pay dividends, on 89 minutes a Workington clearance was headed back by Magnone and Shawcross slotted home. The home side would perhaps have settled for that once the disappointment of not holding on subsided but they weren’t given chance. Two minutes later Green crossed to Magnone and the points were heading back to Manchester.

It is an old sporting cliché, perhaps used by Tiger Woods after a spectator suggested he was lucky with another seemingly impossible recovery shot that it was down to hard work in practice, that the harder he worked the luckier he got. At Workington the lateness of the strikes may suggest a sizeable element of luck, but that would ignore the hard work and patient persistence that were a feature of the previous 44 minutes.

Workington: 1. Nigel McCombie 2. Daniel McDermott 3. Dylan Hudson 4. Jamie Braithwaite 5. Andrew Bromley 6. Tommy Whitehead 7. Liam Studholme 8. Ryan Smith 9. Lee Wolf 10. Stefan Scott 11. Adam Telfer Substitutes: 12. Joe Lightfoot 14. Dave Carruthers 15. Steven Rudd 16. Callum Killick

FC United of Manchester: 1. Ben Jupp 2. Charlie Doyle 3. Ryan Saxon 4. Chris Hill 5. Nathan Chorlton 6. Jacob Holt 7. Dean Hope 8. Zachary Cooper 9. Jake Shawcross 10. Keenan Tuck 11. Gideon Dosunmu Substitutes: 12 Toby Wright 15. Leo Magnone (for 3, 55 mins) 16. Lee Green (for 11, 55 mins)17. Rhodri Giggs 18. Sam Summerbee (for 8, 67 mins)



First Posted ~ 08:35 Fri 20 Feb 2015
News ID ~ 6030
Last Updated ~ 21:49 Thu 18 Feb 2021