MATCH REPORT: Workington AFC U23 7-1 Macclesfield U23
Workington produced one of their best Lancashire League performances of the season, to sweep aside a Macclesfield team in good form themselves recently.
Yet there was no hint of what was to come after a tight, competitive opening twenty-five minutes, with both teams displaying a mixture of attacking flair and defensive steel.
The breakthrough came after twenty-six minutes when Reds opened the scoring with an unusual goal in the context of the game. Callum Bell appeared to overhit a cross to the far post but, when others stood still, Keenan Mackay stepped forward to head home from close range.
Scorer Mackay turned provider for the second goal and his assist was headed home by Codie Elliot in the forty-first minute.
And right on the stroke of half-time, Mackay was on target again this time with a low shot from the edge of the area. Goalkeeper, Alex Weiss, appeared to be unsighted because the ball was in the net before he moved.
A three-goal cushion at the break might have led to a touch of complacency in the second half but, to their credit, the young Reds continued to dominate.
An alert Weiss made two good saves in quick succession, thwarting Leo Brennan’s original shot and then Mackay’s follow-up, when the ball rebounded conveniently.
But the contest was effectively over in the fiftieth minute when Mackay cleverly pulled the ball back for Harrison Rogers who confidently bagged his first of the season.
The game got a little feisty at times and Joe Douglas and Salvatore Zannone were yellow-carded after one little skirmish.
And then, for the second match running, Douglas won the ‘crossbar challenge’ when a thumping shot from outside the box rattled the goal frame with Weiss helpless.
Macclesfield’s good approach work, often petered out in the final third but Joe Rumney saved well to keep out Jack Dunleavy’s firmly struck shot and then showed fine reflexes to keep out Jamie Roberts’ close range header.
Reds were awarded a penalty in the sixty-fifth minute when Brennan was tripped in the box and Mackay completed his hat-trick from the spot to claim the match ball – or so he thought!
Douglas’s spectacular effort was then emulated by a Ted Thomson wonder goal from all of forty-five yards. He spotted Weiss was off his line and deliberately drove the ball goalwards with a sweet connection, and the ‘keeper could only watch as it sailed over his head and into the net. A remarkable goal to make it six.
Leo Milazoo tried a similar effort at the other end but Rumney gathered the ball without too much concern.
A goal mouth scramble in the final five minutes led to Jack Sharpe slotting home his first this term, before dejected Macc scored the final goal of the evening, just before the end.
Nathan Adern’s well struck shot from distance found the narrowest of gaps between the post and the diving Rumney with the ball trickling over the line.
A well taken consolation goal, not even celebrated by pink-shirted Macc.
Workington: Rumney, Routledge, Glendinning, Johnston, Pickering L, Cueto TJ, Douglas, Thomson, Elliot, Rogers, Mackay. Substitutes – Bell, Sharpe, Brennan, Gaskell, Tyer (all used).
Macclesfield: Weiss, Belben, Dunleavy, Habermacher, Roberts, Rojo, Hamer, Touray, Zannone, Arnaud-Kouakoue, Ardern. Substitutes – Sayed, Hunter, Zakotianskyi, Milazzo (all used).
Referee: David Colombi
Bookings: Douglas (Workington), Zannone (Macclesfield)
