Football matches don’t often have as dramatic a finish as this one!
Trailing by a single goal going into the five minutes of stoppage time Workington scored twice to grab what had seemed an unlikely victory.
It was a deserved victory in the end and avenged a 2-1 defeat to the Linnets in the FA Trophy last month when they lost to a stoppage time penalty.
Workington had dominated the second-half increasing the tempo as the weather deteriorated.
The Linnets survived when Ruben Jerome headed against the post and Taberner saved brilliantly from a follow-up header by Dan Wordsworth.
But they appeared to be increasingly edgy as the pressure mounted and in the 85th minute substitute Louis Hayes was sent off for a very late challenge on Sam Smith.
Time was running out and the Workington pressure increased going into the five minutes which were added on.
Then on 92 minutes substitute Jordan Palmer forced in the equaliser from close range.
Three minutes another ball into the Runcorn box wasn’t dealt with and Smith won it for Workington with another close range finish.
It was tense stuff and there was even a red card produced for a member of the Runcorn coaching staff when tensions spilled over on the touchline after that winning goal.
To be fair Runcorn had been the better side in the opening quarter of the game as Reds made a hesitant start.
Home keeper Danny Eccles, give his chance through the absence of Jim Atkinson, had made a fine block to deny Dapo Olarewaju when Runcorn had their best chance.
But opposite number Danny Taberner also excelled with good saves to thwart Scott Allison and Lewis Reilly when Reds created opportunities themselves.
The only goal of the half came on 32 minutes when a long, high clearance from Sean O’Mahoney was superbly controlled by Jamie Rainford. He then lost two home defenders before firing powerfully past Eccles.
Rainford had a couple of other opportunities but on each occasion pulled the shots wide.
Smith, despite playing with a neck problem, was again outstanding for Reds while Allison had also looked to be a non-starter at Thursday’s training session because of a back problem.
Manager Danny Grainger said: “We looked to be struggling on Thursday night but both the lads put up their hands and said they’d give it a go.
“Scotty said he could give me half a match which is why he came off at half-time. But that showed the spirit in the side and that’s how we kept going to win it in stoppage time.
“We could, at that stage, have settled for a draw after the late equaliser but we kept going and got what we deserved.
“It keeps our unbeaten run going; we got some game time for Bobby Carroll after his lay-off and now we have a week to prepare for a long trip to Hanley.”
