Penrith felt the full force of Northern League title favourites Redcar Athletic as the Cumbrians were beaten 5-0.
Redcar had responded exactly as their management team had asked after suffering their first League defeat in mid-week.
But Penrith had made them work for the victory in the first-half and looked like going in at the break all square. But in the second minute of time added on Oscar Flelcher tried a speculative shot from distance and found the top corner.
Goals change games, and goals that late change half-time team talks, and so it proved here.
That goal certainly changed the game and Redcar showed in thre second half why they had been regarded as title favourites before a ball was kicked.
They have acquired an experienced and quality squad and they dominated the second-half, running away with the game.
Brad Fewster scored the second five minutes into the second half before Fletcher notched his second on 59 minutes.
Fletcher completed his hat-trick in the 72rd minute and seven minutes from the end Jack Blackford made it 5-0.
Penrith had travelled with 11 members of their squad unavailable, several of them with ankle injuries, and had only three youngsters on the bench.
Manager Darren Edmondson hopes he will have some of those back for Tuesday’s home game with Crook Town.
The two sides met last month in the FA Cup and despite dominating the game for long spells Penrith lost to a very late penalty.
To hear how Darren Edmondson assessed the Redcar game you can hear here…
