Recap

Reds were left to ponder why they came away empty handed after their penultimate County League fixture at the Sheepmount.

The youngsters produced some eye catching football on a typical ‘end of season’ bumpy pitch but, after opening the scoring, squandered several decent chances enabling the hosts to take control.

They opened the scoring with fifteen minutes on the clock thanks to good approach play from Leon Dmytrowski.  He got behind the Northbank defence and pulled the ball back for Tom Houghton who duly tapped home his eighteenth goal the season.

Northbank were awarded a penalty on the half hour mark but Scott Paden-Gale saved well to keep out Ellis Dickinson’s spot-kick.

They did restore parity before half time, though, with Bobby Dixon netting a deserved equaliser just before the interval.

The second half started in similar fashion to the first with Reds enjoying plenty of possession without really hurting the opposition.

To their credit, Northbank worked tirelessly and won a second penalty fifteen minutes from the end and this time Luke Patrick converted to secure all three points.

Reds responded but, in truth, there was more likelihood of Northbank adding a third than Reds finding an equaliser.

A disappointing result but good to see two players from the JPL U16 team – Hayden Rae and Robbie Savage – getting valuable game time.

The Development Squad complete their league programme on Wednesday with a difficult fixture at Workington Athletic who are still in title contention.

Team: Scott Paden-Gale, Leon Dmytrowski, Dan Whitehead, Reuben Butterworth, Tom Skinner, Hayden Rae, Tom Houghton, Cain Pears, Matty Foster, Louis Webster, Ciaran Booty.  Substitutes – Robbie Savage, Brian Dawson (both used).