Recap

An injury to a an inform player before kick-off, playing in a thunder storm, shipping eight goals and a diverted journey home due to road closures added up to an evening best forgotten as the Old Boys handed out a thrashing to Reds’ teenagers.

Ciaran Booty had to hobble off before kick-off, after his knee locked in the pre-match warm up, and that was just the start of the nightmare.

The Holker first team squad ran riot in a one-sided first half which saw Kevin Watkin’s side rattle in five goals before the interval.

Reds showed great character in the second half and, with the slope to their advantage and improving conditions, they continued to move the ball about well against their more experienced opponents.

The physical difference and that extra yard of pace enabled the Barrow outfit to dictate the game from start to finish ahead of their North West Counties League opener on Saturday.

For Brian Dawson’s youngsters, it was a tough learning curve but an indication of the levels they have to aspire to.

Tommy Dawson opened the scoring after just four minutes and Patrick Allington headed the fifth on the stroke of half time.  In between, Gareth Smith, Nathan Reid and Jamie Hodgson, with a stunning ‘goal-of-the-match’, all netted as OB enjoyed the target practice.

Dawson and Hodgson both grabbed their second goal of the night in the opening quarter of an hour after the break but Reds stuck to their task.

They went in search of a consolation goal but both Leon Dmytrowski and Thomas Houghton squandered the rare opportunities which came their way.

But with eighty minutes on the clock Workington did find the target with the most bizarre goal of this or any other season.

Aidan Howarth was relieved to ease the pressure just outside Reds’ eighteen yard line but his up-field clearance took off in the wind, bounced once and sailed over the embarrassed Holker ‘keeper for an unusual ‘eighty-yarder’!

It didn’t quite have the Patrik Schick finesse but amused the sparse crowd trying to shelter from the elements.

But Holker had the last laugh and scored the final goal of the night seconds before the final whistle.  Faryl Foster’s shot sneaked in at the near post to cap a night of woe for the young Reds.  

Holker Old Boys: Stephens, McCracken, Woodend, Watkin, Mellen, Allington, Reid, McGladdery, Dawson, Hodgson, Smith.  Substitutes – Foster, Baines, Thompson, Spence, Martin, Aimison.

Workington: Paden-Gale, Dmytrowski, Whitehead, Skinner, Howarth, Butterworth, Lowrie, Burns, Foster, Pears, Houghton.  Substitutes – Stephenson, Bell, Harrell (all used).