MATCH REPORT: Workington AFC 2-3 Stalybridge Celtic

The agony continues for beleaguered Workington, and their supporters, although being dumped out of the FA Cup by a Step 4 club on their own patch came as no great shock.

If ever there was going to be a victory by a lower-ranked team, this was the day it would happen.

Stalybridge won the match in the first twenty minutes after an explosive start and, although Reds did threaten a comeback and showed some character in the second half, the damage had been done by a confident Celtic outfit.

The Stockton debacle apart, Reds have been quite sound defensively but never looked like scoring. On this occasion, they appeared more potent going forward but were vulnerable defensively.

Starved of attacking football in the first month of the season, the frustrated home supporter did witness a fine move just after kick-off when Steven Rigg’s attempt lacked the power to trouble Charlie Monks.

That came after good work down the right, from Kai Nugent and Romeo Park, had created the opportunity.

Celtic showed how it should be done with a fine team goal in the twelfth minute. A fine diagonal ball found a way behind the home rearguard and Jack Irlam converted at the far post following a low cross from the right.

DIrlam was a last-minute replacement for Reuben Jerome who was injured in the warm-up and declared unfit to face his former club for the first time since his departure in 2023.

Another ex. Red, Kyle Brownhill, was making his fiftieth appearance for Celtic.

The NPL West outfit doubled their advantage after eighteen minutes via a stunning free-kick. Some twenty-five yards from goal, Benni Smales-Braithwaite sent a ferocious shot past Alex Mitchell with the ball coming to rest in the right-hand corner of the net after cannoning in off the left hand upright.

The same player saw a shot comfortably smothered by Mitchell soon after.

Reds didn’t get going until the half hour mark but incredibly forced nine first half corners. Unfortunately, most of them were wasted.

But the diluted revival continued after the restart and the hosts had reduced the arrears five minutes into the second period. Josh Galloway started the move and good link-up play between Rigg and David Symington released the latter and he slotted home a long awaited first goal of the season.

Game on or another false dawn? Celtic’s response provided the answer as they restored their two-goal advantage within seven minutes. Smales-Braithwaite engineered space on the left and his cross was confidently converted by Ellis Horan.

Symington’s clever free-kick was superbly saved by Monks but the Celtic ‘keeper could only watch, with relief, as a thumping shot from the Reds’ skipper rebounded off the woodwork.

And it was Symington’s perfectly weighted cross, which Rigg headed home in the eighty-second minute, which completed Workington’s best offensive spell of this barren run.

Confidence oozed from the Stalybridge personnel and they emerged worthy winners in the end, but too many Reds players are lacking that vital commodity at the moment and it is the age-old conundrum of what comes first; the confidence to inspire a win or a victory to boost the confidence.

Workington: Mitchell, Galloway, Leslie, McGladdery (Fitzpatrick, 46), Dickinson, Swinglehurst (Stephenson, 79), Symington, Park (Deans, 71), Rigg, Ellis, Nugent. Substitutes – Chapman, Bell J, Reid, Eccles (not used).

Stalybridge Celtic: Monks, Koral (Rokka, 71), Brownhill, Butterworth, Byrne, Tinning, Newell, Tongue, Irlam (Scott, 69), Smales-Braithwaite, Horan (Wilkinson, 69). Substitutes Egharevba (for Scott 86), Doyle, Jerome, Byron (not used).

Referee: Michael Studholme

Bookings: Dickinson (Workington), Brownhill, Butterworth (Stalybridge Celtic)

Attendance: 629