Workington Reds completed their pre-season build-up with a 3-2 win at Borough Park against Carlisle United Under-19s.
A decent crowd of 631, enjoying both the fine weather and the football, saw Reds make it four wins in a row against a busy, workmanlike Carlisle side.
Although Reds led 1-0 at the break, a 20 minute spell at the start of the second-half saw United score twice to gain the advantage.
But Darren Edmondson’s men responded well and the came back strongly to win with two more goals of their own.
Chances were few and far between in the first half but it was Reds who took the lead on 24 minutes with their first real opportunity.
Tom Dawson got clear and racing into the area his shot across keeper Casey Sillitoe went in off the far post.
Amari Smith was a good outlet for Carlisle and his tricky wing play looked as if it might be the main source of danger to the Workington defence.
So it proved two minutes into the second half when he cleverly went between two defenders before firing low past Alex Mitchell into the bottom corner.
It was a particularly slack spell for Reds as they were dominated by the Carlisle youngsters, who went 2-1 up on 54 minutes.
Reds couldn’t get the ball clear after a United attack and when the ball was played back to Mitchell he completely missed his kick and Freddie O’Donoughe was left with an open net, hammering home from a couple of yards.
That poor start to the half, and the two Carlisle goals, seemed to rejuvenate Reds and they came back well.
On 69 minutes Josh Galloway lifted a cross into the box where a clever, stooping header from Dawson found the net for the equaliser.
The winner came on 76 minutes when Carlisle got in a tangle at the back dealing with ba long through ball and trialist Sharif Deans took the ball wide before driving it into the net before any defenders could get back.
Workington now have two training sessions to put the finishing touches to their preparations ahead of Saturday’s visit from Whitby Town at the start of the NPL Premier Division table.
The Carlisle United youngsters also start their competitive season on Saturday with a trip to Chesterfield.
You can hear the thoughts of Reds boss Darren Edmondson and Carlisle coach Jamie Devitt by listening below:
