Recap
Workington remain consistently inconsistent and they reached the halfway point of their season with their tenth defeat – another afternoon where the three points were frittered away.
And, once again, the manner in which they conceded the goals was worrying with manager Mark Fell rightly frustrated that his side left Gorsey Lane empty handed.
The first half was quite even and both managers, I suspect, would have been demanding more from their players after the break. Both ‘keepers made a fine save – Luke Pilling pushed away a well struck Ceiran Casson shot and Alex Mitchell thwarted Jake Daniels with an equally fine stop at the other end.
On another occasion, Steven Rigg lost his feet at a crucial moment when the Rylands defence was breached.
But the telling moment in the first half came via Rylands’ fourth corner in the thirty-eighth minute.
As he did in the corresponding fixture last year, Matty Regan powered in a header for the opening goal, aided by some non-existent marking.
Fell admitted he gave the squad a verbal bashing during the interval and there was an immediate response on the restart. A fortunate Matty Clarke goal restored parity and gave the Cumbrians a lift whilst appearing to make Warrington less assured than they had been previously.
Clarke once scored Workington’s ‘goal of the season’ against the Warrington outfit, although this one wasn’t in the same category. He chipped the ball into the danger area, Jamie Allen failed in his attempt to get something on the ball and Pilling misjudged the situation to gift the visitors an equaliser, five minutes into the second half.
Tom Stephenson made a welcome return to the action and his contribution made a visible improvement to Reds going forward. Unlike the first half, they had an outlet and Stephenson was causing the hosts problems with his pace and trickery.
Rigg released Jamie Allen through the inside right channel but the latter’s clever run wasn’t matched by a poor finish.
The momentum was with Reds but having waited so long to gain some kind of dominance they handed Rylands a reprieve. A shot from a crowded area clattered the bar and then Josh Galloway’s attempted clearance fell conveniently for Jake Burton who drove home what proved to be the winner with quarter of an hour to go.
Stephenson danced into the area and what looked a clear goal scoring opportunity was denied when Pilling upended the Reds attacker. Scott Holding did his best to unsettle Rigg’s composure before the spot-kick and it worked as Pilling saved the skipper’s penalty.
Stephenson’s next run was halted by former Red Cole Lonsdale’s tackle and, again, it looked a ‘last man’ scenario with covering defenders’ miles away. But the referee, who showed a bit of leniency to Pilling, did so to Lonsdale with yellow cards shown to both.
Pilling, the busier of the two ‘keepers, had the final say saving a shot from Stephenson and a weak free kick from Kai Nugent.
Three visits to Gorsey Lane have all resulted in narrow defeats for Workington but they will rue this latest setback. It will go down as a missed opportunity.
Warrington Rylands: Pilling, Smith, Regan (Burton, 57), Hopper (Leather, 57), Holding, Neild, Hardcastle, Hough (Lonsdale, 74), Waring, Kiwomya (Bakkor, 67), Daniels. Substitute – Massanka (not used).
Workington: Mitchell, Galloway, Clarke, Casson, Swinglehurst, Ambrose, Jamie Allen, Grewal, Rigg, Hetherington (Stephenson, 55), Nugent (Wane, 87). Substitutes – Farquharson, Little, Wilkinson (not used).
Referee: Matthew Moss
Bookings: Pilling, Regan, Lonsdale (Warrington Rylands), Swinglehurst (Workington).
Attendance: 352