Recap
Skipper, Steven Rigg, smashed home an eighty-ninth minute penalty to salvage a point for Reds to end a really tough week for the club on a high.
A most welcome point was the very least they deserved after a fully committed display at Broadhurst Park. Having gone in front, only to find themselves behind at the interval, a dominant second half display was rewarded with a first away draw of the season, ending a sequence of six successive defeats.
And it was great to see manager Mark Fell celebrating, after Rigg converted the spot-kick, from his seat in the directors’ box – after serving a one-match touchline ban for a red card misdemeanour earlier this season.
Talisman Rigg had scored Workington’s opener after seven minutes on a day when Fell handed a full league debut to Theo Farquharson, Amadou Doumbouya and Ruben Grewal.
But it was the hosts who held a narrow half time advantage with goals from Jordan Buckley and the evergreen Adam Le Fondre.
FC United, still without a home win this term, squandered the first chance of the game when Buckley broke through only to drag his shot inches wide of Alex Mitchell’s right-hand post.
They were visibly rocked in the seventh minute, though, when blue-shirted Reds got their noses in front. Kai Nugent’s perfectly flighted free-kick into the area was met by the unmarked Rigg who stooped to head home the opener.
The Manchester Reds were back on terms ten minutes later when Lady Luck again avoided the Cumbrians. A ball which Alex Mitchell would have routinely gathered was deflected and instinctively diverted home by Buckley, with the wrong footed ‘keeper helpless.
But Workington were doing okay at the other end of the pitch and Doumbouya almost marked his bow with a goal but Conor O’Keefe parried his well struck shot.
Nugent then danced his way into the box and ended up on the turf, as he was about to shoot, but optimistic shouts for a penalty were ignored.
And more bad fortune, or poor defending, led to FC United taking a thirty-second minute lead. Mitchell’s clearance struck Farquharson and the ball fell to the lurking Le Fondre who exquisitely despatched a sublime goal, adding to his career-laden portfolio of spectacular finishes.
It was harsh on Fell’s side who almost levelled matters before the break, first through the impressive Grewal, whose header was acrobatically tipped over the bar by O’Keefe, and then Efe Ambrose who was inches away from his first Workington goal.
If anything, Workington’s performance gathered momentum in the second half and they were camped in United territory for long periods. One could sense a touch of anxiety amongst the masses not helped by a Reds’ attack which saw O’Keefe thwart Grewal, again, with a fine save, Rigg unable to force home the loose ball and the latter then seeing a header cleared off the line, all in a matter of seconds.
A glorious opportunity fell to Sam Hetherington but his shot was directed into O’Keefe’s midriff whereas a foot either side would have produced a second goal for the Cumbrians.
Ambrose, Clarke and Nugent all had efforts blocked or deflected wide but it was the return of Jamie Allen which produced the late penalty scenario. Goalkeeper O’Keefe made a rash decision to clear the ball and appeared to foul Allen with Dec Evans and Rigg also ending in a heap.
The referee awarded the penalty and booked O’keefe and, when order was restored, Rigg blasted home an unstoppable shot from the spot.
No shortage of spirit or commitment on this occasion and a word of praise for the manager who keeps on fielding a competitive team despite the well documented injury crisis.
FC United of Manchester: O’Keefe, Ferguson, Grivosti (Preston, 72), Munro, Palinkas, Evans, Ennis (Hall, 61), McLoughlin (Lindley, 55), Le Fondre (Fitzmartin, 72), Buckley, Sithole (Navarro, 72).
Workington: Mitchell, Galloway, Clarke, Jake Allan (Jamie Allen, 68), Farquharson, Ambrose, Doumbouya, Grewal, Rigg, Nugent, Hetherington (McDonough, 83). Substitutes – Johnston, Wane, Eccles (not used).
Referee: William Cavanagh
Bookings: McLoughlin, Sithole, O’Keefe (FC United of Manchester), Farquharson (Workington).
Attendance: 1,711