Workington Reds landed an attractive tie at York City after they scored a penalty shoot-out win at Morpeth Town last night in the FA Youth Cup.
They had played well in the first-half to turn round all square at 1-1 but they were less fluent after the turnround and did well to survive unscathed to the final whistle.
They were a goal down inside ten minutes when Michael Luaba cut in from the right and scored with a fine cross shot.
It was a potentially damaging start for the young Reds but they responded well and grew into the game, moving the ball about well.
There was some good fortune about their equaliser on 24 minutes. Luke Bewsher-Canon tried a shot from the edge of the area but it should not have troubled home keeper Jordan Jackman.
Inexplicably he fumbled the ball which spun out of his control and trickled into the bottom corner of his net.
The game seemed to have swung Reds way after 32 minutes when Godwin Williams was sent-off for raising an arm and delivering a blow to Zach Martin’s face.
But Morpeth re-grouped, got to half-time unscathed and in the second-half were far the better team and dominated possession.
Lewis Moore had gone close soon after the restart with a right-footed shot which just cleared the crossbar but, after that, it was one-way traffic towards the Workington goal.
Reds were repeatedly giving the ball away and rode their luck at times. Luaba saw another shot from distance hit the post and had another two efforts saved by Reds’ substitute ‘keeper, Lucas Walker.
In isolated counter attacks, Brad Keenan screwed one shot wide and was then thwarted by a decent save from Jackman. The stopper then made an even better block to keep out a firmly struck shot from Martin.
When Sam Davidson blasted a late chance for Morpeth over the bar it was down to penalties.
Walker proved the hero with two fine saves while Milo Cooke, Zach Martin, Lewis Moore and Brad Keenan all made no mistakes with their spot kicks to send Reds through 4-2.
