Recap
In this first ever meeting between the clubs, Workington equalled their best away result in the FA Cup with the Newcastle outfit suffering their heaviest defeat in thirty appearances in the competition.
The Northern Premier League visitors have fallen to several Northern League clubs in the past but they dominated this encounter from start to finish with a thoroughly professional performance securing a comfortable passage into the next round.
And if the Workington supporters are hoping for a Cup run this year, their team only requires another four victories to reach the First Round proper.
Manager Danny Grainger made several changes to the starting XI, and also tweaked the formation, but was rewarded with a positive performance which produced four goals in the first half and three more in the second.
Celtic did register a few shots on target but couldn’t find a way past Reds’ ‘keeper, Jim Atkinson.
Workington squandered three good chances in the first few minutes, Scott Allison heading wide from a central position and David Symington sending well struck shots over the bar and into the side netting respectively.
But once they took the lead in the eighteenth minute there was never any doubt about the outcome. Bobby Carroll’s initial shot didn’t have the power or the distance to trouble Dan Gladstone but Allison swivelled and helped the ball find the net.
Three minutes later they doubled the advantage with Symington’s corner met by Steven Rigg who powerfully headed home the second.
Symington got in on the act himself, scoring Workington’s third ten minutes before the interval when a well hit low shot from outside the area appeared to deceive Gladstone.
Their fourth goal came in the forty-second minute and was the end product of a fine four man move culminating in Allison laying on the assist for Reuben Jerome who took his goal with aplomb.
Celtic’s best openings of the half saw a Michael Baxter effort saved by Atkinson and Scott McCarthy looking a certain scorer until a magnificent Ekow Coker tackle averted the danger.
The hosts also wasted the first chance after the restart but substitute Connor Campbell failed to cash in on an intercepted back pass with Atkinson gathering his weak shot comfortably.
Reds’ fifth goal, in the sixty fourth minute had a touch of good fortune about it after Jordan Palmer’s wayward shot hit Greg McCaragher and deflected past the unfortunate Gladstone and into the net.
But the sixth, with twenty minutes to go, matched the passing and movement of Workington’s fourth. Matty Clarke did the spadework down the left flank with Allison and James Hooper playing a neat one-two before the latter planted the ball into the net.
This prompted a late flurry from the hosts who went in search of a consolation goal but Atkinson saved well to thwart Callum Larmouth and then Campbell before Jack Errington sent another effort wide.
Allison had the chance to bag his second of the afternoon only to blast the ball high over the bar when clean through, but there was a seventh two minutes before the end of normal time.
The ball found its way to the right where the lurking Symington blasted home his second from an acute angle, via a slight deflection.
Reds fell one goal short of a record away win in the FA Cup but the emphatic 7-0 success matched a similar result from ninety years ago!
West Allotment Celtic: Gladstone, Higgins, Devine, Jones, Scott, Errington, Baxter, Kanda, Larmouth, Thompson (Somerville, 66), McCarthy (Campbell, 51). Substitutes – Lowery-Matondo, Brady, Bates (not used).
Workington: Atkinson, Mahone, Hooper, Wordsworth (McCaragher, 46), Coker, Casson (Clarke, 60), Symington, Carroll, Jerome (Palmer, 60), Allison, Rigg. Substitutes – Tinnion, Birch, Reilly, Lightfoot (not used).
Referee: Nick Vincent, Northumberland FA
Crowd: 150