Workington Reds lost their opening friendly on Tuesday night when they went down 2-1 at West Lancashire League opponents Whitehaven.
It was the first time that Whitehaven had won the annual fixture since the inaugural meeting in 2011 for the Shaun Hocking Memorial Trophy. They shared it in 2018 and the other 11 games had been won by the Reds.
Whitehaven scored twice in the first-half, the first an unfortunate own goal by Workington’s Zack Martin and the second a close range finish from Robbie Swinburn. He’s a Whitehaven lad who has just been released by Carlisle United from YTS.
Reds had most of the possession in the second-half and created a number of chances but could only reduce the arrears five minutes from the end with a well-taken strike by Josh Galloway.
Manager Mark Fell said: “The result in friendlies is irrelevant but we can’t give goals away if we want to do anything this season.
“It served a purpose, got 45 to 60 minutes into some of the senior lads, and there were things in the game we liked but of course there were things we didn’t like.
“Credit to Whitehaven, we had most of the ball in the second-half and they defended really well, putting their bodies on the line.
“From our point of view I was really pleased with Josh Galloway, apart from his goal because I thought he looked dangerous every time he got the ball.
“We are now planning for Coppull United on Saturday when we will have a different side out, but be looking at other new faces. We hope to be able to bring in a couple of loan players in a fortnight and that still leaves us three or four players short from what we need but we are working on those.”
Whitehaven manager Jon-Karl Benson was particularly pleased with his team’s performances, particularly as it was after just one training session together.
He said: “We got some hard minutes into lads legs, especially the more inexperienced ones in the second half when we dug in well. Making 11 changes at half time and utilising all personnel was a great achievement for us to hold on. The three 16-year-olds and three 17-year-olds stood up brilliantly
“In the first half I thought we edged it, although we had a bit of luck and Reds missed a few chances, but we stuck to our game plan and I thought we looked really good at times. A special mention to my own son Cody who I thought was immense at centre back in the first half, as it’s not easy for a young lad to mark experienced players in Dav and Riggy.
“Another mention to Keenan Mackay our 16-year-old left side forward, playing his first senior game against a physical pairing of Little and Swinglehurst, and I thought he was fearless, looked mature on the ball and was a constant threat.
“Reds dominated a lot of the second half, but we had our chances on the counter attack and the lads really stuck at it. We lost a bit of shape at times but that’s to be expected as apart from three defenders our second half team was all 20 and under. It also included four debutants.
“A special mention to Aaron Carter in goal for us in the second half who made some fantastic stops. I’m pleased he’s stayed with the club to fight for the number one berth with Tom Fowler. So all in all it was a good blow out and obviously happy to win the Shaun Hocking trophy.”
Whitehaven’s next friendly is on Tuesday night when they are at home to Maryport Athletic (7pm).
