They say lightning doesn’t strike twice – but it has at Borough Park.
For the second time in a month Workington won a home game after trailing on 90 minutes.
First it was Runcorn Linnets and now near neighbours Widnes have fallen foul of the Reds late-late show at Borough Park.
Goals in the 92nd and 94th minutes gave the west Cumbrians another dramatic victory to continue their pursuit of the League leaders.
Widnes scrapped, battled and defended manfully after taking the lead on 14 minutes.
But they were left shattered with those late goals from Conor Tinnion and Ruben Jerome.
Tinnion had started on the bench but manager Danny Grainger quickly turned to his club skipper after a poor opening half an hour from his side.
Young centre-half Niall Moran was hooked, Cieran Casson moved back to fill the defensive role and Tinnion started to make the midfield tick.
It had been a really poor start by the Reds, slow and ponderous, knocked out of their stride by a tenacious Widnes team.
There was an early opportunity for the visitors when Max Bardsley-Rowe was left with a chance but Jim Atkinson just managed to grab his shot as it headed for the bottom corner.
90+2 equaliser pic.twitter.com/DvxSgoW7de
— 40/20pix (@4020pix) November 12, 2022
Reds didn’t learn from that an 14 minutes Bardsley-Rowe was left unmarked in the box and he easily had time to aim and fire past Jim Atkinson.
Skipper Michael Burke was a commanding presence at the back for Widnes, although they did have to ride their luck.
Reds record goal-scorer Scott Allison missed two good chances in the first-half which he would have been expected to put away.
He shot high over the bar from ten yards after being set-up by a cushioned header from Lewis Riley.
Then when Riley pulled one back from the by-line Allison couldn’t control it and it flew off his shins and out for a goal-kick.
Workington were completely dominant in the second half but still found it difficult to create enough opportunities.
Riley whistled one just over the bar and then produced the save of the season from Luc Rees as he flung himself across goal to keep out a strong header.
How about a view from the stands of what @rubenjerome8 ‘s winner looked like???? pic.twitter.com/gUUOatItVO
— Workington AFC (@WorkingtonAFC) November 12, 2022
It was looking like a frustrating afternoon with the 90 minutes up and no signs of a breakthrough.
Then in the 92nd minute from a free kick on the edge of the area Tinnion bulleted a low shot into the bottom corner.
Two minutes later a ball into the box was flicked on by Riley for Dav Symington to help into the path of Ruben Jerome who lashed home the winner.
Grainger praised the team for keeping going and snatching the win but he admitted it was in the main a poor performance.
“When I brought Conor on after half an hour I could have replaced anybody. We just weren’t anywhere near good enough, failing to move the ball quickly enough.
“The one plus is that we got all three points after we hadn’t played well,” he said.
