Workington’s Pan Disability/Inclusive team have made a flying start to the new season in the Ability Counts League.
The Reds have two teams competing, one in the Premier League (six-a-side) which is a four team Division, and one in the Championship (five-a-side) which is a six team League.
Despite taking only 12 players (so clearly short on substitutes) the Workington sides – nicknamed the Hoppers – a tribute to the late Tony Hopper – and the Marras – acquitted themselves really well on a warm night and won five games as well as a goalless draw.
Both competitions are played over seven minutes each way and the points are allocated as three for a win, two for a draw and one for a defeat.
In the Premier League, the Hoppers took on Carlisle City Deaf and played really well in a tight game and came out 2-0 winners which was a fine performance against a team who play in National competitions.
The next game was against Carlisle Spartans and the opposition keeper made some superb saves which helped them to an 0-0 draw.
The final game saw the Hoppers taking on the current champions Carlisle Reivers Panthers and they really cut loose. Once the first goal went in every other shot seemed to find the back of the net and they went on to win 6-1, a quite stunning result.
After eight points from a possible nine Reds are in top spot for the month which is a splendid start and the progress made from the previous month’s friendly games was most notable.
In the Championship the Marras opened with a very tight game against Carlisle Reivers Cheetahs and it took single goal to win it for the Workington side.
They followed up against Carlisle United Orange and quickly went 2-0 ahead. It looked ominous when the Orange side pegged them back with two goals but the Reds finished strongly to win 7-2.
The Marras finished off against Whitehaven Warriors and again were in top scoring form, ending up convincing 7-0 winners.
A special mention goes to Robbie Murray who scored ten goals in the three games and like the Hoppers, club mates the Marras sit proudly on top of their League.
No doubt other teams will improve as the season progresses and there will be some tough games ahead, but as a confidence booster these opening day performances have been turbo-powered.
