Recap
It has been a tough baptism for Reds’ youngsters in the County League’s Premier Division with a second successive defeat inflicted upon them at St. Mungos Park.
A sloppy start to the game and a poor second half contributed to their downfall and the half hour purple patch they can reflect on simply isn’t enough to win games at senior level.
They were fortunate not to concede in Aspatria’s first attack with barely a minute on the clock but, thankfully, Dan Pearson squandered a great opportunity. There was no reprieve in the eighth minute, however, when the hosts did go ahead thanks to Andrew Trestianu who was afforded too much time and space in the area.
But from that point until the interval, Reds enjoyed their best spell of the game and were in control without creating too many clear cut chances.
They scored a deserved equaliser after thirty five minutes via the penalty spot. James Bell’s penetrating run into the box was halted by a foul and Thomas Houghton confidently converted the subsequent penalty.
At the halfway stage, they were well in contention with thoughts obviously trained on actually winning the game but a controversial penalty, awarded against them on the hour, proved the turning point.
It was one of those ball-to-hand scenarios from point-blank range and the referee took the view that a Workington defender’s arms were raised and pointed to the spot.
Trestianu sent Scott Paden-Gale the wrong way from the spot and Aspatria were back in the driving seat.
And Reds faded quickly after that and never looked capable of salvaging even a point.
The hosts scored a third through Pearson, who had just returned to the field after a spell in the Sin Bin, then netted a fourth just before the end when substitute Lewis Little capitalised to score with ease after Reds lost possession on the edge of the area.
Team: Paden-Gale, Howarth, Whitehead, Atkinson (Lowrie, 65), Butterworth, Skinner, Houghton (Stephenson, 80), Burns (Pears, 70), Lightfoot C, Bell, Dmytrowski (Harrell, 80).