Hednesford Town slipped to a disappointing defeat against the ten men of Workington following two second half goals.
The Pitmen were almost handed the perfect start to the game in the fifth minute as Jacob Simpson chested the ball back past goalkeeper Aaran Taylor, but thankfully for the Workington backline the ball wasn’t on target.
A minute later George Washbourne was able to lift the ball over Taylor but it was cleared away from inside the six-yard box as it bounced towards goal.
The visitors meanwhile failed to test Hednesford goalkeeper Dan Crane when chances came the way of David Symington and Scott Allison.
The best chance of the opening quarter came to Hednesford’s Danny Glover in the 15th minute as he looked to move onto a short back header, but the striker saw his shot from 12 yards turned over the crossbar.
In the 35th minute the game looked as if it may swing in the favour of the home side as Workington were reduced to ten men. Although Washbourne had committed a foul on James Earl, the visiting midfielder took exception to it and shoulder barged the Pitmen player to the ground.
This didn’t seem to faze the visitors though and they comfortably saw out the rest of the half to go in level at the break.
HT: 0-0
Although Hednesford applied some pressure early in the second period, the nearest they would come to taking the lead would be in the 56th minute when Lewis Wright tried to play in Washbourne but he could only toe-poke the ball into Taylor’s arms.
Instead it would be Workington that would strike first on the hour mark. A free-kick into the Town box picked out Kyle May who saw his downward header bounce into the top corner of the net.
Despite having a man advantage the home side struggled to get going as the second period progressed, with a Glover spin and shot in the 70th minute being all they could muster.
Five minutes later and the visitors found themselves two goals to the good as a long ball caught the Pitmen backtracking and Nathan Waterston was able to nip in and lift the ball over Crane into the net.
As Hednesford looked for a way back into the game defender Nat Brown moved up front and he saw a shot from the edge of the box easily saved with ten minutes to go.
Crane had to react quickly to deny Waterston a second goal in the 85th minute as Workington continued to threaten before Brown saw a header cleared off the line with two minutes to go as the visitors played out time to claim all three points.
Hednesford Town: Crane, Wright, Campion, McNaught, Brown, Brenan, Washbourne (Fitzpatrick 59), Thorley, Glover, Clarke (Cater 64), McDermott (Danquah 75)
Subs not used: Ransome, Ballinger
Workington AFC: Taylor, Simpson, Smith, May, Calvert, Earl, Symington (Rowntree 46), Wilson, Allison, Joel (Waterston 69), Tinnion
Subs not used: Ryan, Douglas, Cham
Attendance: 358
Star Man: Tom Thorley
Entertainment Rating: Two Stars
