Workington and Carlisle played out a goalless draw at Borough Park in front of a 1,214 crowd.
It was a game in which Carlisle had the majority of possession but couldn’t find the bite that matters in the box and home keeper Alex Mitchell mainly had the basics to deal with.
Showing great resilience in defence, often putting bodies on the line to produce blocks, Workington gave their best performance so far in the pre-season friendlies.
They rarely offered a threat to the Carlisle goal but the best chance of the game came on 76 minutes. Aaron Hayden was short with a back pass to Jude Smith and Steven Rigg was in on goal but he drilled his shot over the bar.
Carlisle gave their starting team an hour, before they changed it with virtually a completely new side for the final half hour.
Sam Hetherington, who spent time on loan with Workington last season, was their liveliest player in the first-half and almost put the Blues ahead but lifted his shot a couple of yards wide.
The closest Carlisle came to scoring came from a goalmouth scramble on 57 minutes when Luke Armstrong poked the ball towards goal and it looked to be creeping in when Mitchell got across to hack clear almost on the line.
Carlisle United manager Paul Simpson said afterwards that he was pleased with the application from his side but the delivery often lacked quality.
“We are still looking for signings and there’s a chance of a Premier League player coming on loan later in pre-season,” he said.
You can hear what Reds boss Mark Fell thought by clicking here…
