Craig Hobson had a great chance early on, as Jack Rea swept a superb low ball across the face, but Workington keeper, Aaran Taylor, got back across the face superbly well to get down and block Hobson's close range effort. Taylor was there again when Adam Kay's excellent near post cross found Phil Marsh stealing in at the near post, but his flicked header was exceptionally well saved by Taylor.
Hopeful efforts from Gareth Arnison and Connor Tinnion were straightforward catches from distance for Jan Budtz. Taylor denied Phil Marsh a second time by flying through the air from Marsh's snapped shot, pushing the ball around the post for a corner that Hobson headed over. Workington broke quickly and almost got beyond the Celtic backline with Arnison's ball across the face finding Tinnion coming in. With Budtz beaten, it required a sliding block from Andy McWilliams to deny Workington the opener.
Right before the interval, Hobson and Marsh traded passes, Hobson bursting into the box only to be brought down by Andy Langford in a clear cut penalty. Marsh stepped up to take it, sweeping his effort with power beyond the reach of Taylor, despite the Workington keeper guessing the direction correctly.
Celtic came out after the break looking sharper than the in the first, and Kay brought the best out of Taylor with his angled drive, whilst at the other end, Tinnion's distance effort was over Budtz and clipped the top of the crossbar from twenty-five yards. Celtic kept pressing as well, and Lloyd Ellams finally got a shot away as the Workington defence struggled to clear a melee in the Workington box, with Taylor reacting well from close range to deny Ellams. Workington reorganised with a couple of substitutions, and looked more dangerous, with Kyle May missing a glorious chance to equalise when one-on-one with Budtz and screwing his shot wide, while Adam Main's effort from distance as a snap shot and dipping as it sailing over Budtz and the crossbar.
Celtic broke from the back with Lee Elam putting the ball into the path of Andy McWilliams, with the defenders dragged away by Marsh and Ellams peeling in different directions, a gap opened up in front of McWilliams and he took it, racing towards goal and unleashing a sensation curling effort that sped over Taylor and straight into the top corner, earing the fullback man of the match.
Marsh followed it up by hitting the side netting, before Workington launched the ball forward for Jonny Wright to chase, and he gladly did, taking advantage of a slip by McWilliams to go one-on-one with Budtz and slipping the ball under the Celtic keeper. Connor Jennings almost restored the two goal cushion after some intricate passing from the Celtic front line, but fired over the bar. With minutes to go, Workington threw everything forward, lobbing free kicks into the box, but the Celtic defence held firm, and when Celtic broke in stoppage time, a half cleared ball fell back to earth from a great height with Lloyd Ellams underneath it. His looping header cleared Taylor, and went narrowly wide of the post.
Had it gone in, a three one score line would have been a fair reflection of the game. Workington were not the lacklustre side Celtic put five past earlier in the season, and the result was a good one.
1 | Budtz, Jan | ||
2 | Rea, Jack | ||
3 | McWilliams, Andy | ||
4 | Meynell, Rhys | ||
5 | Platt, Kristian | ||
6 | Wilkinson, Greg | > 69 | |
7 | Kay, Adam | ||
8 | Warburton, Callum | > 66 | |
9 | Marsh, Phil | ||
10 | Hobson, Craig | > 62 | |
11 | Ellams, Lloyd | ||
12 | Elam, Lee | < 66 | |
14 | Bembo-Leta, Joel | < 69 | |
15 | Jennings, Connor | < 62 | |
16 | Bembo Lita, Fabrice | ||
17 | Ryan, Tim |
1 | Taylor, Aaran | ||
2 | Langford, Andy | ||
3 | Wright, Anthony | ||
4 | May, Kyle | ||
5 | Andrews, Lee | ||
6 | Burke, Jonny | > 60 | |
7 | Rogan, Nick | ||
8 | Hewson, David | > 81 | |
9 | Wright, Jonny | ||
10 | Arnison, Gareth | ||
11 | Tinnion, Conor | > 76 | |
12 | Murray-Jones, Andy | < 76 | |
14 | Main, Adam | < 60 | |
15 | Vipond, Shaun | < 81 | |
16 | Hindmarch, Stephen | ||
17 | Sloan, Mark |