Workington 1

Winsford United 3

UniBond Division One

Saturday, November 25

BLUES continued their steady march up the table with the best performance of the season at a rain-soaked Borough Park. They overcame dreadful conditions with strength, bravery and a level of skill that left Workington floundering in the mud.

Winsford seem to be in the habit of giving an early goal away and this game was no exception as, in the fifth minute Graham Goulding sent in a long centre from the right, which Grant Holt superbly volleyed past the helpless Matt Conkie in the Winsford goal.

In the next 20 minutes Workington laid siege to the Blues goal but a combination of poor finishing and brilliant saves by Conkie kept the deficit down to just 1-0.

The home team then regretted their spurned chances in the 29th minute when Chris Bermingham picked the ball up on the left and with skills that belied the ankle-deep mud, jinked past two defenders and sent in a cross which Carl Rendell crashed into the bottom right hand corner of the net.

Blues were now rampant and it came as no surprise when they took the lead in the 43rd minute. Player boss Steve Shaughnessy took on the defence on his own, shrugged off two crunching tackles and his 25-yard shot could only be helped into the net by Workington keeper Gary Hoggarth.

A heavy downpour at half-time left the pitch even more sodden, but Workington continued to try to pass the ball through the mud in the centre of the pitch, a tactic that was never going to pay dividends.

Winsford were using the long ball up to front runner Danny Worthington, a policy which paid off in the 56th minute. A pass out of defence found Worthington just inside the opponents half, his speed carried him past two defenders and he looked certain to score when Hoggarth cynically brought him down.

Interestingly, after first reaching for his pocket, the referee decided not to show any colour of card, apparently under persuasion by the Winsford players sportsmanship indeed.

The punishment was dished out by Worthington, who duly dispatched the penalty to give the Blues a 3-1 cushion.

Winsford: Conkie, Morley, Lloyd, Burns, Lomax, Lowe, Rendell, Langley, Worthington, Shaughnessy (Crowley 73), Bermingham. Subs not used: Mills, Newman.

Attendance: 263. Man of the Match: Carl Rendell.