A below-par performance, in front of another 1,000-plus crowd, had threatened to further derail Workington Reds.
But five minutes from the end the club’s record goal-scorer Scott Allison popped up with the winner to keep the Cumbrians firmly in contention.
Allison scored his 129th goal for Workington to spare their blushes against a Trafford side which had competed gamely from the second minute when they had been reduced to ten men.
A driving run from mid-field by Brad Carroll caused problems for Trafford and when the ball was worked through to Allison he produced a trademark finish.
It was bad luck on Trafford who had battled really well since having Aidan Roxburgh sent-off after only two minutes. Referee Alex Beckett ruled he had been the last defender when fouling Conor Gaul and had denied him a goal-scoring opportunity.
Workington went close on a couple of occasions. Gaul had a shot stopped on the line by keeper Matthew Cooper and Brad Hubbold flashed a shot just wide from the edge of the area.
They eventually grabbed the lead on 40 minutes after Carroll got forward down the left and a smart pull-back was drilled home by Conor Tinnion.
But Reds just didn’t find any sort of momentum in the second half and it was Trafford who looked the most likely to score on the break.
So it proved when Max Hazeldine climbed well to head home from close range on 64 minutes.
Reds did increase the tempo in the closing 15 minutes and there was all round relief when Allison produced a typical finish to keep the Cumbrians firmly in the title race with eight games to go.
Special guest on the day was marathon man Gary McKee who would certainly have approved of Reds ability to keep going to the end.
Manager Chris Willcock said: “We weren’t at our best and will certainly have to play a lot better at Ramsbottom on Tuesday.
“But we kept going and came up with a way to win the game, which is what you do in situations like that.”
