Recap
The young Reds continued their protracted pre-season programme, registering a straightforward win over the Westmorland League outfit, with the added bonus of Ceiran Casson playing nearly an hour as part of his pre-season catch-up.
Sam Smith was due to take part in the game too but wasn’t quite ready for match action.
Most of the attention fell on a member of the KS backroom staff with the ever popular Charlie Bowman helping out behind the scenes with his local club.
The striker came within inches of losing his life following a forestry accident back in February and faces a long rehabilitation process in the weeks and months ahead. And it was great to see him involved in the game again, albeit just verbally, from the touchline.
It was a laboured performance from Reds, though, and they found it hard work trying to break Kirkby Stephen’s resilience.
They took the lead after ten minutes when Dan Whitehead converted a penalty after he had been upended in the box. But the second goal didn’t arrive until just before the half time whistle.
A corner routine went wrong but Elliot Lowrie reacted quickest with the skipper regaining possession and driving the ball into the net from an acute angle for his first goal of the summer.
Within four minutes of the restart, Reds went further ahead following a decent passing move down the left, culminating in Josh Palmer sweeping the ball into the roof of the net from close range.
The hosts battled away gamely but their three main shots on target were from distance and comfortably dealt with by Scott Paden-Gale.
Reds should have added to their tally but wasted several opportunities with the wood work also struck on three occasions.
Team: Scott Paden-Gale, Hayden Percival (Ben Wade, 55) Dan Whitehead, Owen Birkett, Robbie Wilson, Ceiran Casson (Coby Bell, 55), Josh Palmer (Harry Potts, 55), Louis Webster (Thomas Downes, 55) Matty Foster, Elliot Lowrie, Jack Brown.